ActionSA is outraged by the horrific mass shooting in Saulsville, Pretoria, where at least ten people were killed and several others injured in what early indications suggest may be linked to gang violence.
This massacre forms part of a deepening pattern of violent criminality across Gauteng and comes at the back of the assassination of key witness Marius “Vlam” van der Merwe, known as Witness D in the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry, in Brakpan last night – just days after his testimony – as well as the mass shooting in Boksburg last month that claimed six lives. Gauteng is facing an organised – crime emergency and innocent communities are paying the price for the state’s failure to maintain order.
The fact that such catastrophic violence can occur repeatedly in short succession exposes a fundamental collapse in strategic, intelligence-led policing. For years, ActionSA has warned government that:
Crime syndicates, extortion networks and gang structures have grown more sophisticated and requires an equally sophisticated law enforcement response.
SAPS intelligence capabilities have deteriorated.
Politically motivated policing “projects” have replaced professional crime-fighting strategies.
To prevent further loss of lite, ActionSA calls on national and provincial authorities to immediately implement:
Intelligence-led, professional policing.
Rebuild SAPS Crime Intelligence to proactively identify gang operations, extortion networks, and planned attacks.
Deploy specialised units capable of dismantling organised-crime syndicates.
Introduce measurable performance accountability for station commanders and provincial
SAPS leadership.
Establish permanent, coordinated anti-gang task teams with SAPS, metro police departments,
Hawks, Crime Intelligence, and the NPA.
Modernised Community Policing Forums (CPFs) that are functional, resourced and integrated into local policing plans, with regular engagements between SAPS leadership and community
structures.
Residents in townships, suburbs and informal settlements live under siege while criminals act with growing boldness. These killings demonstrate, with tragic clarity, that crime in Gauteng is not random; it is systemic, organised, and emboldened by a policing system that has lost its strategic capacity.
ActionSA will continue to push for a complete overhaul of Gauteng’s policing approach—one that is strategic, intelligence-driven, collaborative and uncompromising on criminal accountability. South Atricans deserve a government that secures their streets, protects witnesses, and dismantles the criminal networks terrorising communities.
ActionSA Condemns Saulsville Mass Shooting
ActionSA is outraged by the horrific mass shooting in Saulsville, Pretoria, where at least ten people were killed and several others injured in what early indications suggest may be linked to gang violence.
This massacre forms part of a deepening pattern of violent criminality across Gauteng and comes at the back of the assassination of key witness Marius “Vlam” van der Merwe, known as Witness D in the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry, in Brakpan last night – just days after his testimony – as well as the mass shooting in Boksburg last month that claimed six lives. Gauteng is facing an organised – crime emergency and innocent communities are paying the price for the state’s failure to maintain order.
The fact that such catastrophic violence can occur repeatedly in short succession exposes a fundamental collapse in strategic, intelligence-led policing. For years, ActionSA has warned government that:
To prevent further loss of lite, ActionSA calls on national and provincial authorities to immediately implement:
SAPS leadership.
Hawks, Crime Intelligence, and the NPA.
structures.
Residents in townships, suburbs and informal settlements live under siege while criminals act with growing boldness. These killings demonstrate, with tragic clarity, that crime in Gauteng is not random; it is systemic, organised, and emboldened by a policing system that has lost its strategic capacity.
ActionSA will continue to push for a complete overhaul of Gauteng’s policing approach—one that is strategic, intelligence-driven, collaborative and uncompromising on criminal accountability. South Atricans deserve a government that secures their streets, protects witnesses, and dismantles the criminal networks terrorising communities.