Police need to be proactive in dealing with gang violence - GI-TOC

CAPE TOWN - Mark Shaw, director of the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime (GI-TOC), has described South Africa as a country with a serious challenge of organised crime, ranking it seventh in the world.

Shaw was speaking at a briefing to discuss the importance of partnerships in addressing the scourge of gangsterism and organised crime. 

His comments come as deadly gun violence continues to be reported in several Cape Town areas, with three separate double murders in Kraaifontein reported on Tuesday.

Violence has also been reported in areas including Muizenberg, Mitchells Plain, and Mfuleni.

Shaw said police needed a strategic response to deal with gang violence, calling for a shift from a reactive to a proactive strategy.

"I think the key thing to do is to move from a reactive to a proactive strategy, and that's what we've never been able to do here and elsewhere in the world. One of the challenges is that as soon as the violence goes away, the deployments or the resources go away, but organised crime doesn't go away. So this idea of changing how we think is key," said Shaw.