Statement by Nicholas Gotsell MP – DA NCOP Member on Security & Justice:
The DA has formally submitted PAIA applications to obtain the long-awaited interim Operation Prosper report from the SAPS and the SANDF. Without one, no answers or tangible solutions can be offered to communities living under daily siege from gang violence.
Acting Minister of Police Firoz Cachalia has previously admitted that after three months of deployment, not a single gang was dismantled.
Two months ago, Presidency Spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said a report was being prepared and would be made public. However, since then no report has been made available. This lack of transparency is unacceptable.
Operation Prosper was meant to restore order, disrupt organised criminal networks and give communities hope that the state was regaining control. Instead, communities continue to witness brazen shootings, escalating gang wars and persistent lawlessness.
While the SANDF deployment may have provided some limited moments of visible relief, the operation has not been properly intelligence-led or prosecution-guided. There is also little evidence that the deployment is delivering value for the estimated R823 million cost attached to the 13-month operation.
Accessing the interim report is a necessary oversight to ascertain how many firearms, rounds of ammunition, arrests, raids, value of contraband, and suspects are scheduled to appear in court since the commencement of the deployment to date.
1,054 suspects have been arrested for serious offences, including murder, attempted murder, illegal possession of firearms and drug-related crimes. However, the public must be told how many of these cases have been enrolled in court, how many have collapsed, and how many suspects have been granted bail.
The DA has also submitted Parliamentary Questions on the deployment.
The DA demands answers on Operation Prosper from its commencement to date:
- Total illicit drugs seized (quantity, types, and estimated street value).
- Total gang members and wanted suspects arrested, including Crime Intelligence, Anti-Gang Unit, and Organised Crime profiling.
- Total illegal firearms recovered, including links to SAPS and private security companies, ballistic testing results, and ammunition recovered.
South Africans cannot trust the police and army to keep them safe when no transparency is offered and their cries are met with silence. The DA will continue to hold the officials accountable until communities receive clear answers and a credible plan.
Night Magnet
A British man on safari walks into a bar far out in the reaches of a game reserve in Southern Africa, he stays at the bar for a while shooting the shit with the bartender and drinking like a fish, he offer to buy the barkeep a round and since no one else is within 2km of their small oasis of liquor the barkeep obliges. The englishman goes off to the bathroom to have a good old go at the porcelain, he\’s back and ready for a few more whiskeys. He\’s just sat down when suddenly in the distance he hears a scream. He looks over his shoulder and dismisses it as nothing, he turns to the barkeep and orders a drink, takes a sip and hears the scream again. He looks at the barkeep who just shrugs it off. A minute or two later he and the barman hear it again and go outside to take a look. They see a lone figure running towards them screaming, he spots them and lets out a cry, RUN!!!!! HE\”S COMING!!!!!
The barkeep and the Englishman both look at the terrified bedraggled sight before them, and try to calm him down, but he\’s completely inconsolable. They give him water and finally manage to get a word out of him but he struggles free from their grasp and run away screaming.
A few minutes later the same thing happens with a whole group of men running in and screaming, he\’s coming, he\’s coming the barkeep grabs hold of one of the men as he tries to sprint past the bar and tries to get information out of him, again no response other than terrified gibberish.
The barkeep and his customer are starting to get worried, they start to pack up before another group of horrified natives run up to the bar most of them flee but one tries to hide behind the bar, the barkeep pulls out a shotgun and points it at the terrified man\’s face, finally managing to coax some words out of him. \”He\’s coming for us, Vernon Koekemoer is coming for us, we have to hide!!! We have to get out of here.\” He gets up and tries to run but the barkeep grabs him, feeling trapped in a panic he grabs the barkeeps shotgun and blows his own head off. The Englishman and the barkeep look at each other starting to really panic now.
They look out of the window and off in the distance they see a tornado coming towards the bar, at the bottom of the tornado they see the hugest beast of a man they have ever seen, as he gets closer they spot that he is riding a rhinocerous and using a crocodile as a riding whip, with each smack of the crocodile across the back of the rhino the louder is screams and the faster it runs, the tornado following it getting ever larger.
The 2 look at each other and start to fortify their position, they\’ve got a gun and they\’re waaay to drunk to run, so they start piling bar stool and tables and anything they can get their hands on to make sure they\’ll be safe when he arrives. They\’re not gonna make it, they can see the man slowing down his rhino, by now the crocodile is nothing but reptile paste on the bruised rump of the half dead rhino, the rhino drops down dead from exhaustion and crashes to the ground right outside the bar the tornado loses it\’s last breath in a cloud of dust as the huge man crashes his way through the make shift barricade and charges up towards the bar where the 2 men have taken shelter, he grabs a bottle of the hardest liquor on the shelf and down the entire litre in 1 gulp, he peers over the bar sobbing and sees the 2 defenders cowering down behind the crates of beer, they look up at the mans\’ face and he stares at them with a look of complete and utter hopelessness, he stares at them for a half second and half screams, half sobs, \”Oh my god what are you still doing here!!! WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE NOW!!!! Vernon Koekemoer is coming!!!!\”
Diamond Gamer
Fun South African Fact: Lions, elephants and giraffes may not roam the city streets, but nature and animals are never too far away in South Africa. From vervet monkeys swinging through tree-lined streets in the suburbs and baboons frolicking around Cape Point to seals visiting the Hout Bay harbour in search of a fishy snack and an array of bird species taking to the sky at any given moment. Wildlife is all around!