Acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia
With Cape Town grappling with a surge in violence, Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis has accused Acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia of failing to respond to urgent calls for over a month for for Metro Police to gain investigative powers.
This comes after 145 people were murdered on the Cape Flats between August 3 and 23, and at least 29 people had already been killed in eight mass shootings since the launch of Operation Prosper in April.
The toll includes the August 8 and 9 bloodshed in which 11 people were killed in three separate mass shootings in Langa, Lingelethu West and Gugulethu. Five people were killed in Langa, three in Khayelitsha and three in Gugulethu, where two others were wounded. Police have since offered rewards of up to R100,000 per case for information leading to arrests and convictions.
The City said Hill-Lewis lodged an intergovernmental dispute on July 29, arguing that the matter requires the parties to promptly engage on a mediation process in terms of the Intergovernmental Relations Framework Act.
