Cape Town - Gunshots pierced the afternoon quiet of a suburb as a gang of suspected extortionists and police exchanged fire along one of Cape Town’s busiest arteries.
When the guns eventually went silent, three suspects, in a Toyota Quantum, were dead and four others sustained gunshot wounds.
The scene, on the corners of Bosmansdam and Wyland roads in Bothasig, resembled a Hollywood action movie as empty bullet shell casings lay strewn on the road.
The minibus in which the seven suspects had made their getaway, had been brought to a halt after crashing into a tree.
According to the police, the suspects had been pursued by the Provincial Operational Command Centre’s Combat Team who had acted on information that the suspects had been extorting their “protection fee” from shop owners in Dunoon.
According to police spokesperson, Wesley Twigg, “the Combat Team, upon reacting on the intelligence, the suspects were spotted fleeing the area. During a pursuit in Bosmansdam Road, the suspects opened fire at two police vehicles with an assault rifle”.
Police confiscated an assault rifle, a 9mm pistol, and an undisclosed amount of cash along with the minibus which had been registered to an address in Dunoon.
Most of the residents in Bothasig and Edgemead had been at work at the time of the shooting at around 2pm but the neighbourhood WhatsApp groups were buzzing with reports of the exchange of gunfire.
Bothasig resident, Lucille Reynolds, had just got home when she heard the shots.
“Everybody was going crazy, you could hear screaming and then we thought it was just random. You don’t know (whether) it was a gunshot immediately but then it continued, it was just shot after shot, after shot,” said Reynolds.
She was standing around with her neighbours, all of them shocked at the scene as police crime scene investigators scoured the area for clues.
“It was quite exciting, we were all wondering ‘what the hell is going on?’, it’s not something you hear every day, it’s very quiet here,” said Reynolds.
Another neighbour added, “It’s not the norm”.
Pointing to the intersection of Bosmansdam and Wyland roads, Reynolds said initially she suspected the shooting had something to do with road rage.
“The taxis often stop here at these robots, and then when you’re here (Wyland Road), and it’s green you can’t move because they’ve blocked the road. We thought maybe that’s what it was all about, perhaps people had gotten gatvol or it was taxi wars,” said Reynolds.
Twigg said while the four injured suspects are being treated in hospital, under police guard, detectives are pursuing leads to prepare the charges for their imminent court appearances.
The identities of the suspects are yet to be determined.
Extortion gangs have unleashed a reign of terror in some townships with particularly small businesses targeted for “protection fees”, refusal to pay often leading to death.
Opposing gangs have also sought to wipe out each other to increase their takings.
Recently it was reported that even social workers operating in Cape Town’s townships have had to work under police escort.
And in Nyanga, local crime-fighters have attributed the area’s increased homicide rate to extortion and taxi-related crime.
Between April and June this year, 79 people were murdered. The rate had gone up by 64.6%, meaning 31 more people were killed than in the same period in 2023.
Police Oversight and Community Safety MEC, Anroux Marais, commended the action taken by the SAPS against the suspected extortionists. “I commend the police for the firm action against extortion. Extortion is growing in prominence,” said Marais.
Twigg added: “The three fatalities and the injuries sustained by the four suspects are being investigated by IPID and a death inquest case docket has been registered for this purpose. Fortunately, no SAPS members or members of the public were injured during the incident.
“We encourage victims to come forward by using our toll free extortion hotline, 0800314444,” said Twigg.