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🚓 SAPS Anti-Gang Unit Unannounced Oversight Visit – 18 FEBRUARY 2025 Today, we conducted an unannounced oversight visit to the SAPS Anti-Gang Unit (AGU) in the Western Cape, based at Old Faure. This unit is meant to lead the fight against gangsterism, yet it is being crippled by a lack of resources, infrastructure failures, and severe personnel shortages. 🚧 Infrastructure & Facilities – Years of Neglect The base has been occupied by SAPS since 1993 but has seen little to no maintenance from the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI). To make matters worse, SAPS owes DPWI nearly R2 billion at the moment. Office space is inadequate – detectives do not have proper offices and must use police stations for interviews. There is no dedicated interview facility, forcing them to work in makeshift conditions. Basic infrastructure is in complete disrepair: 210 members share just two female toilets and one male toilet. No cleaners – toilets are mostly broken, and blocked drains make conditions unbearable. Frequent water outages, sometimes lasting up to a week, with no JoJo backup system for emergency water supply. Cable theft regularly disrupts power supply. Most fencing has been stolen, leaving the base completely exposed. DPWI promised a perimeter wall four years ago, but nothing has been built due to "budget constraints." Internet and communication systems are unreliable – extremely slow speeds mean that when one system fails (phones, internet, or computers), all operations stop. 👮 Personnel & Operational Challenges – A Unit Set Up to Fail: AGU has NO Fixed Establishment – meaning the unit has no guaranteed staff complement for long-term sustainability. AGU initially had nearly 50 detectives – today, that number has dropped to just 34 to cover the entire Western Cape, despite gang violence increasing. The unit operates at the capacity of a Captain-level station even though it should have the resources and structure of a Brigadier-level station. There is only ONE Finance Clerk for the entire unit, leading to delays in overtime payments, operational expenses, and financial processing. There is no financial oversight, and the burden on this one member is completely unfair. Support services are critically under-resourced: Only two HR members responsible for 210 personnel. One fleet manager overseeing 79 vehicles – an impossible workload. AGU is being misused as a glorified crime prevention unit, rather than conducting targeted, intelligence-driven investigations. Court duties and prisoner escorts are wasting the unit’s time – TRT should be handling these tasks. Each detective should have a uniformed technical team, but none exist. This was not the case in the past, but SAPS management changed the structure, leaving detectives without necessary backup. In 2020, AGU detectives were moved to Organised Crime Investigation (OCI) under a different Section Head, causing confusion in command and control. 🚔 Vehicle Shortages & Failing Fleet – No Mobility, No Crime Prevention: AGU operates 79 vehicles, yet: 90% of the fleet has over 250,000 km, making them unreliable for high-speed response. No new vehicles have been allocated since 2018, severely affecting AGU’s operational capacity. At least 50% of the fleet is usually in the garage, leaving members without adequate transport. AGU keeps receiving old, second-hand vehicles from other stations, some with over 400,000 km on the clock. The unit had to purchase three vehicles themselves, yet even these are not always available when gang wars erupt. 🚨 A Serious Concern: A Gangster Posing in an AGU Vehicle: In 2022, I exposed a shocking case of a known gangster posing in an official AGU vehicle, flashing gang signs. The police officer who allowed this to happen is STILL working in the unit today. Even worse, he is now working in the operations room, the heart of the unit, where sensitive intelligence and operational planning takes place. How is SAPS management allowing such an individual to be in a critical unit like AGU? Gang and police collusion continues to undermine crime-fighting efforts, and SAPS leadership must explain why nothing has been done about this incident. 📌 Full Story Here: https://t.co/xQ2mvx9IYs 🚨 What Happens Now – Our Action Steps to Follow Up: DPWI must urgently intervene to repair and maintain AGU’s infrastructure, including sanitation, security, and office facilities. A secure storage facility must be built. A dedicated holding facility must be built for ID parades and interviews, reducing unnecessary back-and-forth between AGU and stations. AGU must be assigned a Fixed Establishment to ensure proper staffing, budgeting, and long-term planning. New vehicles must be allocated immediately – the unit cannot continue operating with an aging fleet. Court duties and prisoner escorts should be removed from AGU’s responsibilities and transferred to TRT, as originally intended. Detectives must have dedicated uniformed support teams, restoring the previous structure that allowed for effective crime-fighting and support for operations and investigations. Additional HR, finance, and fleet management personnel must be urgently deployed to fill critical gaps in AGU’s support structure. Immediate disciplinary action must be taken against police members who enable gang activity – including removing compromised officers from AGU’s operations room. Final Thoughts – Fix AGU Now: The Anti-Gang Unit is fighting a war against gangsterism, but they are being sent into battle with no 'weapons', no vehicles, and no proper infrastructure. Years of government neglect, mismanagement, and underfunding have left this unit in crisis. We will now start the process of demanding urgent intervention and proper resourcing for AGU so that the fight against gangsterism can be effective and sustainable.