{"id":2300,"date":"2026-04-01T13:16:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T13:16:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/?p=2300"},"modified":"2026-04-01T13:33:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T13:33:18","slug":"army-will-never-be-long-term-solution-to-gang-violence-activist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/01\/army-will-never-be-long-term-solution-to-gang-violence-activist\/","title":{"rendered":"Army will never be long-term solution to gang violence &#8211; activist"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Eight hundred soldiers are about to hit the streets of the gang-infested streets of the Cape Flats in the Western Cape , in a desperate bid by government to reduce the number of gang-related deaths reported daily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Earlier this week it was reported that 83 violent deaths had occurred over an 11-day period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed alignleft is-type-wp-embed is-provider-real-news-real-impact wp-block-embed-real-news-real-impact\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"aWVf6LuKEA\"><a href=\"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/16\/every-month-100-people-killed-in-gang-violence-across-the-cape-flats-one-man-has-an-idea-to-keep-kids-safe\/\">Every month 100 people killed in gang violence across the Cape Flats. One man has an idea to keep kids safe<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"&#8220;Every month 100 people killed in gang violence across the Cape Flats. One man has an idea to keep kids safe&#8221; &#8212; REAL NEWS,REAL IMPACT\" src=\"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/16\/every-month-100-people-killed-in-gang-violence-across-the-cape-flats-one-man-has-an-idea-to-keep-kids-safe\/embed\/#?secret=cSgTADBurg#?secret=aWVf6LuKEA\" data-secret=\"aWVf6LuKEA\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>During the release of the latest crime statistics, Anroux Marais, MEC for Police Oversight and Community Safety, said the numbers confirm what residents already know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;The province continues to face deeply entrenched challenges in categories like murder, attempted murder and rape, underscoring persistent levels of firearm-related violence and targetted attacks in communities,&#8221; Marais said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Frankly, the Western Cape remains the\u00a0epicentre of gang-related violence\u00a0in South Africa.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to the latest statistics, one in four murders and attempted murders in the province are gang-related, with the Cape Flats, Delft and Mfuleni at the centre of the bloodshed. Firearms remain the weapon of choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Firearms continue to dominate as the chosen dangerous weapon in murder cases,&#8221; Marais said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Community activist Fatima Shabodien says historically army deployments have brought short-term reduction in violence, but it will never provide a long-term solution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;The gangs are aware of the time-based deployment and they will adjust their strategies and the deployment is completed, she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Shabodien argues that there is a critical need to deal with the compromised police force and this will provide more of a solution to the scourge of gang violence on the Cape Flats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Army will not be a long-term solution to gangs\" width=\"696\" height=\"392\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/vs-RXJTa_as?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-real-news-real-impact wp-block-embed-real-news-real-impact\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"ucIsv57K8z\"><a href=\"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/19\/the-ganglands-of-westbury-where-the-cost-of-a-life-is-as-little-as-r30\/\">The Ganglands of Westbury: Where the cost of a life is as little as R30<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"&#8220;The Ganglands of Westbury: Where the cost of a life is as little as R30&#8221; &#8212; REAL NEWS,REAL IMPACT\" src=\"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/19\/the-ganglands-of-westbury-where-the-cost-of-a-life-is-as-little-as-r30\/embed\/#?secret=LKfpRJ7BWV#?secret=ucIsv57K8z\" data-secret=\"ucIsv57K8z\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/web.whatsapp.com\/send\/?text=Every+month+100+people+killed+in+gang+violence+across+the+Cape+Flats.+One+man+has+an+idea+to+keep+kids+safe+%0A%0A+https%3A%2F%2Folivenewsnetwork.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F01%2F16%2Fevery-month-100-people-killed-in-gang-violence-across-the-cape-flats-one-man-has-an-idea-to-keep-kids-safe%2F\"><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Eight hundred soldiers are about to hit the streets of the gang-infested streets of the Cape Flats in the Western Cape , in a desperate bid by government to reduce the number of gang-related deaths reported daily. Earlier this week it was reported that 83 violent deaths had occurred over an 11-day period. During the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1204,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[140,205,13],"tags":[162,341,79,67],"class_list":{"0":"post-2300","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-must-reads","8":"category-secondary-story","9":"category-south-africa","10":"tag-cape-flats","11":"tag-corruption","12":"tag-gangs","13":"tag-sandf"},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2300"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2300\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2301,"href":"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2300\/revisions\/2301"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}