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Raid: South African Police Service members patrol the streets on the Cape Flats (above). The Democratic Alliance wants the Western Cape to take over policing responsibility from the national government.

DA renews bid to control policing in Western Cape

The party has bristled at billionaire Johann Rupert’s remarks that the Cape Flats are the epicentre of South Africa’s violent crime problem

Calvin Cloete has prior convictions for malicious damage to property and assault. (Photo supplied)

27s gang member sentenced to life for rape, murder of ex-girlfriend on 21st birthday

Calvin Cloete hacked Carmen Gouws to death with an axe and stomped on her back with such force that he left shoe imprints

Members of the Cape Town Metro Police search a house as part of a search-and-seizure operation for drugs and weapons, in the Cape Flats area of Cape Town. (File photo by RODGER BOSCH / AFP)

Gang threats lead to school absenteeism and business closures in Cape township

A letter, apparently written by gangsters in Philippi, warns they will kill Somalis if extortion fees are paid to their rivals

Rashied Staggie was shot dead in an apparent ambush outside his Salt River home. (Supplied)

Hard Livings may have killed Rashied Staggie’s son

Three more alleged gang members from the Americans and Jesters were killed on Tuesday in a Manenberg killing spree

Hard Livings: The life of a child gangster

Debate is heating up over the Child Justice Amendment Act increasing the criminal capacity age from 10 to 12 years

‘Squid Game’ is an explicit critique of the current mode of capitalism. (John McCann/M&G)

South Africans are trapped in a ‘Squid Game’

‘Squid Game’ is an explicit critique of the current mode of capitalism. But far too much popular discourse has overlooked or neglected its sociopolitical messages.

Helping out: Sabastian Haricombe (left) and his father Ralph (right) now distribute children’s shoes to schools in the Cape Town area. Sabastian’s mother, Marta, stands between them. (David Harrison/M&G)

Father and son abandon gangs to start a project of hope

After spending more than 40 years in a life of gangsterism, Ralph Haricombe’s life changed after his son asked him to change his life

ake music: In Scottsdene, Cape Town, the Join Bands Not Gangs organisation is teaching young children to play musical instruments as an escape from crime, gangsterism and drug abuse. (David Harrrison)

Battle of the bands proves a more soothing gang option

Like many community-based projects, Join Bands, Not Gangs has had to rely on donations to teach young children to play instruments to escape crime, gangsterism and drug abuse

Eight-year-old Tazne Van Wyk who was found dead in a drainpipe outside the town of Worcester. (Jaco Marais)

South Africa’s parole system has failed child victims

Justice minister embarks on parole reform after recent murders of two Western Cape children allegedly by parolees

The prison system is not an effective rehabilitative environment. There is no one single cause of the high crime rate in the country, but many are symptomatic of South Africa being one of the most unequal societies in the world.  (David Harrison)

Revolving door of crime and jail

The prisons department says it has rehabilitation programmes. Others disagree, including an ex-inmate who says the only way to come right is to want to change

Durban attorney Ahmed Amod remains adamant that he has done nothing wrong regarding a dubious property scheme

Defence lawyers killed as Cape Town gang wars spread

Several attorneys and advocates told the Mail & Guardian that their fraternity is now “under siege”.

(Oupa Nkosi/M&G)

Faction fights in KZN turn school playgrounds into battlefields

Long-standing feuds between adults are playing out at schools, with the violence forcing them to be closed for long periods

Ceasefire: Residents of Manenberg and surrounds braved wet conditions and potential gang violence on election day. The fact that Ramadan started the day before helped keep the peace. (David Harrison/M&G)

Rain, Ramadan elect peaceful vote

Shootings and violence did not stop voters in the Cape ganglands from exercising their constitutional rights

(Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)

Our children are killers and we need to change this

They learnt violence at home and in society which is marred by inequality and poverty

Pete Mihalik’s car being removed from the crime scene. (David Harrison/M&G)

Underworld bosses and gang wars — The life of Pete Mihalik

Over the years Mihalik has been the go-to lawyer for underworld figures and individuals linked to a deadly turf war

Rolling mass protests have swept through areas of the Cape Flats after Kensington and Factreton — an adjacent community — blocked Voortrekker Road to reclaim their streets from gangsters in August. (David Harrison/M&G)

Communities attempt to shut down Cape Flats to protest gang violence

Tuesday’s shutdown is expected to see Cape Flats residents blockading major arterial roads during peak morning traffic

The Bonteheuwel mass action follows a similar protest last Friday where residents in Kensington and Factreton, an adjacent community, united to campaign against gang violence. (David Harrison/M&G)

Shut down planned to protest gang violence in Cape Town

In the early hours of Wednesday morning the community of Bonteheuwel will shut down

Trane

Life goes on in bloody gangland

The drugs, the bodies, the violence – it’s hard to comprehend how people live in Ocean View

Countdown: Pam

‘Nommer 37’ goes beyond its Hitchcock influence

Nommer 37 is a safe film, albeit one that executes well within its limits.

Premier Supra Mahumapelo supporting local economic empowerment at a local taxi rank.

Calls for army patrols as gang violence spirals

Sporadic gun battles in gang hotspots around the Cape Flats area have increased and prompted authorities to call for an army intervention