he battlefields extend across the Cape Flats and even into rural towns. But this year’s epicenter is Lavender Hill, whose violent reality belies the sweetness of its name.

In the brutal conflict, no-one - be they children, neighbourhood watch members or peace activists - has been spared. Although gang culture has been a feature in the Western Cape for over 100 years, this year’s levels of violence are unprecedented. Even more alarmingly, some of the perpetrators of the escalating violence are not much older than children themselves. They are teenage gang members, high on Tik, intent on settling scores, climbing the gang ranks and staking their claim to the lucrative drug trade from where their gangster predecessors of the previous decades left off.

But is the latest outbreak simply a war within the criminal or third economy? Or has it been further complicated by the ongoing political battle for the heart of the Cape?

In the first of a two-part programme, Special Assignment provides an analysis of the situation in Lavender Hill, the gangs involved and the uneasy truce being brokered by former gangsters-turned-peacemakers. The programme also looks at the efforts by the city and the province to protect a community under siege. Although the long-term strategy must include socio-economic measures to uplift gang-infested areas, effective policing must be the top priority. However, the police are struggling to cope amid limited resources, low morale, allegations of corruption within the higher SAPS ranks and widespread public perception of official collusion with criminals.

In terms of our constitution, the powers of Western Cape’s MEC for Community Safety, Dan Plato, do not extend beyond oversight, and while the City of Cape Town’s Metro Police have been successful in arresting numerous suspects, their mandate does not extend to investigate crime, in order to secure convictions. The national government has finally acted on pleas from terrorised communities to deploy the army in order to assist the police as a short term measure to stabilise the area. However, SAPS has refused to deploy specialised gang units to effectively investigate organized crime and help secure effective prosecutions.

While the DA-led province and the ANC remain at odds regarding the appropriate way forward, traumatised and broken communities continue to live in fear, unsure as to who will be the next casualty in the Cape of Wars.

Watch the first of the two-part programme by Special Assignment on Thursday, 16 August at 21:00 on SABC3.