Grant Pascoe
The killings on the Cape Flats have reached a point where no one can pretend this is just another spike in crime. It is a collapse of leadership. It is a police command that has lost control. It is a political class that hides behind statements while communities bury their children.
The first half of November 2025 has been one of the bloodiest in years, with close to thirty people murdered on the Cape Flats in one seventy-two-hour stretch. Ten people were shot at the Nyanga taxi rank on 12 November, where two women died and eight others were wounded.
That same weekend, three people were shot and killed in Delft. Five women were murdered across the city in ninety-six hours. One of them was Lisanda Sondlo from Delft South, who refused to pay protection money and paid with her life. The Western Cape Government keeps repeating that the province’s murder average has dipped slightly, but that means nothing to the families in Delft Nyanga Gugulethu, Philippi East and Hanover Park. Those communities still sit at the top of the national murder charts, and the neat averages mentioned at media briefings carry no weight in the streets where people live with fear.
Unofficial data from various sources indicate that between the 1st and 12th November 2025 at least 141 people were murdered across the greater Cape Town metropole. Ed.
Police Ombudsman Confirms Gang Influence Inside SAPS
The most dangerous problem sits underneath the daily violence, and it is the infiltration of senior SAPS structures by the 28s gang. This was not speculation but a finding in a 2022 High Court judgment by Judge Daniel Thulare and later confirmed by the Provincial Police Ombudsman. That report was completed in 2022, but only tabled in 2025 because SAPS leadership refused to cooperate. They slowed it down, blocked interviews, and protected themselves. The Premier laid the original complaint but held back on a full inquiry to avoid interfering with other investigations. Three years later, the full truth is still hidden. National SAPS even rejected the province’s offer to fund lifestyle audits for senior commanders, which only strengthens the public suspicion that people are hiding something.
Another truth that must be said without hesitation is that some politicians continue to meddle in the underworld and maintain friendly ties with cartel figures and gang bosses. Every time a politician accepts help, votes, money or favours from criminal networks, they weaken law enforcement and hand power to the people who terrorise our streets. Communities see this every day. Officers on the ground see it. The entire country sees it even if politicians pretend otherwise
Western Cape Safety Plan Undermined
The Western Cape Safety Plan promised new officers stronger intelligence and better technology, but the plan depended on the very SAPS leadership now linked to gang influence and to managers who block oversight and refuse lifestyle audits. A safety plan cannot succeed if its main partner is compromised. Gun violence remains the main driver of murders. Extortion networks have tightened their grip on neighbourhoods that were once stable. The slight provincial decrease hides deep spikes in several communities, and trust in SAPS is at a breaking point.
The political class has chosen comfort over courage. They issue statements, express concern, and move on. They avoid calling for suspensions or resignations. They avoid confronting the Minister of Police. They want to sound active without carrying the consequences of real leadership. Communities want something else. They want honesty about infiltration. They want clean command structures. They want officers who work for them, not against them. They want policing powers that can actually keep them safe.
This video shared by Grant Pascoe on Facebook makes the inference that just like tribal wars were orchestrated by the state to serve political interests during Apartheid, the gang wars on the Cape Flats is possibly also allowed to continue in order to serve polical interests.
Communities Demand Action, Not Statements
The way forward is not complicated. The Ombudsman’s findings must be released in full. Independent lifestyle audits for all senior SAPS officers in the province must be enforced. The debate on devolving policing powers to the province and the city must be taken seriously and not delayed any longer. Precinct-level crime reporting must become standard so that communities know what is happening in real time. And political leaders must stop hiding from SAPS corruption and start confronting it directly.
The Cape Flats does not need another press conference. It needs action. It needs leaders who fight for people, not for their own survival. It needs a police service that is free of criminal influence. Until that becomes real, the killing will continue.
WATCH: Crime & Community Safety with Steve Ross, Kaylin Palm & Zuko Mndayi
On Beyond The Headlines by Cape Conscious Media, host Mandilakhe Tshwete speaks to activists Steve Ross, Kaylin Palm and Zuko Mndayi about the realities of crime and community safety in their neighbourhoods and organisations.
