[imagesource: YouTube / Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime]

Cape Town’s gang warfare is seemingly never-ending.

Last month, it’s alleged that members of the Fancy Boys gang targeted alleged Americans gang leader Mohammad ‘Gummie’ Solomons, 43, outside a Wynverg mosque in broad daylight.

One source said that the Fancy Boys gang are in the process of taking over turf across Cape Town and are targeting areas controlled by the Americans.

We know that the Americans won’t go down without a fight and this battle is indicative of the daily violence that residents who live among the gangs must endure.

As part of a recent project, the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GITOC) carried out case studies in Tumaco (Colombia), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Nairobi (Kenya), San Salvador (El Salvador), and Cape Town.

The project “examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic challenges accompanying it on criminal governance in cities”:

The Americans are among around 100 gangs in Cape Town warring over territory to sell drugs. Gang violence accounts for a third of murders in Cape Town.

We investigate the heavily contested landscape and turf wars in Cape Town’s ganglands against the backdrop of a COVID-19 lockdown.

Local research has shown that our extensive lockdowns have actually helped Cape gang kingpins cement their power.

GITOC sent researchers into affected areas to speak with gang members themselves, as well as the communities in which they operate:

[source:gitoc]