South Africa's Police Minister Firoz Cachalia has said that the security forces are not yet able to defeat deadly criminal gangs, in a stark admission that underscores the scale of the country's crime crisis.
Gang violence, alongside robberies, accounts for many murders in South Africa, which has one of the world's highest homicide rates.
Cachalia said gang violence had become increasingly complex, especially in the Eastern Cape and Western Cape provinces, requiring new strategies beyond traditional policing.
I do not believe that we are currently in a position to defeat these gangs, the minister told journalists on Wednesday.
South Africa, the continent's most industrialised nation, has long struggled with entrenched organised crime.
Many people in South Africa own licensed firearms for personal protection, but there are many more illegal guns in circulation.
Despite the creation of an anti-gang unit in 2019, Cachalia stated that gangsters seemed to be winning the war.
Speaking after his visit to crime-infested Nelson Mandela Bay in Eastern Cape, the minister noted that criminal gangs were on a killing spree in the two provinces.
The intense violence has continued into the new year, with around 40 murders reported in January alone.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has promised stronger law enforcement measures and increased police presence across the affected regions.
