CAPE TOWN - Hundreds of soldiers are getting ready to be deployed in identified crime hotspots in the Western Cape.
Communities on the Cape Flats have endured extreme levels of gang violence, leading to daily murders and injuries, often from mass shootings.
The army is expected to have its boots on the ground within the next week.
Affected communities have many questions about how the deployment is meant to pan out.
But they also have solutions. Fighting gangs is no quick fix.
Forming police and civic partnerships to create safer spaces is a must.
Others said the army's presence will just further traumatise an already shattered community.
There was consensus that the affected communities need to play their part in looking for alternatives to engage young people differently.
But the Cape Crime Crisis Coalition is against the deployment of the army, given what happened in 2019.
"You need consistency in applying your plans, engaging communities," said Llewellyn Macmaster.
"And because the root causes of gangsterism are not addressed in a way that we can say that will bring change its going to fail.”
"So gangsterism has stepped into the vacuum and through organised criminal networks they have become providers for our communities, that is what makes it so difficult to uproot just by sending in the army."
Macmaster says there has to be an exit strategy for when the army leaves and a structure in place to maintain any gains once they are gone.
- eNCA's Ayesha Ismail reports.