Over 300 People Killed in August 2025 Alone: An In-Depth Look As Western Cape Gang Violence Surges
- Gang-related violence has escalated in the Western Cape, with over 300 people murdered in August 2025 alone
- Parliament's Police Committee Chairperson, Ian Cameron, highlighted which areas were more severely affected
- The Acting Minister of Police, Firoz Cachalia, and National Police Commissioner, General Fannie Masemola, recently visited the province
- Briefly News spoke with various experts, including Crime Watch host Yusuf Abramjee and Gun Free SA, about the crisis
Source: Getty Images
Briefly News journalist Byron Pillay has dedicated a decade to reporting on the South African political landscape, crime, and social issues. He spent 10 years working for the Northern Natal Courier before transitioning to online journalism.
WESTERN CAPE – Gang-related violence has turned the Western Cape into a warzone, and police are struggling to combat the crisis. The month of August 2025 highlighted just how bad the rising gang violence is, but things haven’t slowed down in September either.
Over 300 gang-related murders were recorded at the top 30 police stations alone. With no end in sight, Briefly News takes a look at the problems, how they can be addressed, and the impact on residents in the affected areas.
Which areas are worst affected?
Parliament's Police Committee Chairperson, Ian Cameron, highlighted that for August 2025, Mfuleni recorded almost 40 murders, a 62% increase compared to the same period in 2024. In August 2024, 17 people were murdered, while a year later, police had to deal with 36 murders.
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Cameron noted that Kraaifontein, Mitchells Plain and Delft also recorded double-digit murder counts, with each of those stations showing sharp increases compared to the previous year. He also stated that Khayelitsha saw a steep rise in killings, shooting up by nearly 40%.
“Residents are being buried, while national police leadership dodges the issue of devolving powers,” he said.
Cameron added that the South African Police Service (SAPS) is losing control, if it hasn’t already, in some areas.
Violence at an all-time high
Speaking exclusively to Briefly News, Yusuf Abramjee, the host of Crime Watch on eTV and eNCA, said that the figures spoke for themselves.
“The violence on the Cape Flats is now at an all-time high; it’s the worst that I’ve ever seen,” he said.
He added that it had developed into a full-scale war, and the authorities had their hands full in dealing with the surge in violence, as they were under-resourced.
“These gangs are running amok, and they are most certainly heavily armed, and it’s a fight over drugs, over firearms and over territory,” he noted.
Abramjee also experienced the situation first-hand as he accompanied Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, Alderman JP Smith and the Metro Police to see how they were trying to combat the violence.
Source: Original
Metro Police and provincial initiative, the Law Enforcement Advancement Plan (LEAP), have gone from hotspot to hotspot, but Abramjee noted that while it extinguishes the flame for a little bit, the violence flares up again. Leaders in the Western Cape have actively called for increased powers for Metro Police and other local authorities, in a bid to combat rising gang violence, as the SAPS is not managing.
Abramjee said that he agreed with Acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia’s assertion that there seems to be no clear strategy and plan by the police to fight the scourge. He also noted that many residents were calling for the South African National Defence Force to be deployed to the area, adding that he believed a State of Emergency needed to be declared in the area. Cachalia asked:
“How long are we going to sit back and watch the lawlessness and the blood, the bullets and the bodies continue to flow?"
He concluded that gang violence needed to be prioritised, and there needed to be ongoing and sustained operations to deal with the crisis, emphasising again that it was at unprecedented levels.
Source: Getty Images
Gun Free South Africa calls for urgent action
Speaking to Briefly News about the situation in the Cape, Claire Taylor, a Research and Policy Analyst at Gun Free South Africa (GFSA), said that urgent action is needed on two fronts.
Taylor said that the first front needs to focus on intelligence-led gun recovery operations, to recover illegal firearms already circulating, and then track and trace them to identify leakage sources, while the second front needs to be to plug the leaks at the source.
“The biggest source of illegal guns in SA isn't international smuggling; it is licensed guns leaking from civilians and the state,” she said.
She added that police data and Parliamentary replies showed that civilians reported losing 24 firearms daily (including five from private security companies), while police lost two daily.
“In addition to mopping up the illegal pool, we must go upstream to close the tap leaking licensed guns into this pool, which means strengthening controls over all licensed guns in SA.”
Taylor also added that more effective implementation of the current gun control laws was necessary. She noted that the Firearms Control Act of 2000 was a lifesaver at the time, as it resulted in gun deaths dropping from 34 people shot dead daily to 18 between 2000 and 2010.
Implementation of the act collapsed during the days of State Capture, leading to a surge in gun violence.
"Currently, 33 people are shot dead daily. This steady increase in gun violence coincides with an increase in gun availability,” Taylor said.
She highlighted that between 2016 and 2023/24, applications for new gun licences rose 58%, and an additional 161,699 licensed guns entered communities, expanding the pool from which illegal guns leak as well as opportunities for illegal gun use.
She further added that after 25 years, the Firearms Control Act needs amendment to both strengthen the law and address confusion, which included mandating the immediate removal of firearms from domestic abusers, clarifying licence renewals, and prohibiting blank fire guns.
Residents are still living in constant fear
While senior police officers and the acting minister visited the area in September 2025, residents are still living in fear as there appears to be no end in sight to the regular shootings.
Some said they were considering moving, as fatal shootings had become an everyday occurrence. In some of the shootings, innocent people or children lost their lives in the crossfire.
While many are afraid for their lives, they’re also concerned about the number of firearms in the hands of these gangs. On 31 August 2025, police seized an arms cache at a home in Lentegeur, Mitchells Plain. Police found 19 firearms, 1,500 rounds of ammunition, 26 magazines, a stun grenade, a silencer and a shooting practice target board.
A resident of the area told Briefly News under condition of anonymity that they never suspected it, as the area was considered very quiet and the last place one would expect to find an arms cache.
There are also concerns among community members that the firearms just end up back in the hands of criminals. Another resident of Mitchell’s Plain shared with Briefly News how a firearm was found in a letter box outside someone’s home. The homeowners discovered the firearm when they went to open the box. Minutes later, a group of men came to the house, demanding the gun.
Police were called and took the suspects and the gun away. Community members were concerned, however, that police just removed the firearm using a newspaper to avoid touching it, and no forensics were taken or the scene processed.
Cachalia calls for an end to conflict in the Cape
Briefly News reported that Acting Police Minister Professor Cachalia called for an end to the conflict between gangsters in the Western Cape. Professor Cachalia made the address during the 27th Interpol African Regional Conference in Cape Town, on 27 August 2025.
South Africans discussed Cachalia's statement, saying that he should present solutions to end gang warfare in the area.
Proofreading by Kelly Lippke, copy editor at Briefly.co.za.
Source: Briefly News
