DA leader Mmusi Maimane will lead a march to press for the deployment of troops to crime-ridden communities in Cape Town.

His spokeswoman‚ Portia Adams‚ said Maimane would lead “thousands of people” from Manenberg police station to Nyanga police station on Thursday “to call on Police Minister Bheki Cele to #SendTheArmyNow”.

“Just yesterday the latest victim of crime – a young father - was gunned down at the Eastridge Clinic in Mitchells Plain‚ just metres away from the nearest police station‚” Adams said on Tuesday.

“Cape Town’s poorest and most vulnerable communities continue to live in constant fear of gangs and drug dealers‚ and the rampant crime which results from this activity.

“Despite this‚ the ANC national government refuses to give them the police protection that our constitution guarantees.”

Adams said Cele had backtracked on a promise by his predecessor‚ Fikile Mbalula‚ that the army would be deployed on the Cape Flats.

Crime is set to be a key election issue next year‚ with the ANC demanding on Monday that the City of Cape Town shows “value” for the R60-million it spends annually on combating gangs.

Provincial secretary Faiez Jacobs said almost 23% of all crime reported in South Africa occurred in the Western Cape‚ “and predominantly in Cape Town”‚ where murders had increased by 40% in the last five years.

“For years now the City of Cape Town has preferred not to reveal to the public any measures it has taken to fight this city's biggest and most consequential problem‚ crime and gangsterism‚ but have simply preferred to hold on to the false dogma that crime fighting is exclusively the responsibility of the national government‚” said Jacobs.

“The city knows its responsibility and has in fact taken measures to fight crime‚ but all these measures have failed. And typical of the DA‚ when they fail‚ they blame others.”