Man killed as Cape gang violence surges

FEE BEARING - Cape Town - 150728 - Mongrels gang member was shot dead yesterday in John Down Walk in Hanover Park - Picture: Leon Knipe

FEE BEARING - Cape Town - 150728 - Mongrels gang member was shot dead yesterday in John Down Walk in Hanover Park - Picture: Leon Knipe

Published Jul 29, 2015

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Cape Town - An alleged member of the Mongrels was gunned down in Hanover Park this week in a flare-up of gang violence.

Police have confirmed that a 43-year-old man died after being shot in the chest at around 4pm on Monday in what residents believe was a gang-related killing. The man was declared dead at the scene.

Police spokesman Captain FC van Wyk said: “It has yet to be determined if the incident was gang-related and what the motive was. The suspects are unknown and still at large.”

No arrests have been made and a murder investigation is under way.

The administrator of a Facebook page called “gang watch”, which compiles reports from neighbourhood watch members and other concerned residents, said the dead man was a Mongrels gang member.

The administrator, who elected to remain anonymous out of fear of retaliation, said not only Hanover Park, but the Cape Flats in general had been experiencing an upsurge of gang violence recently.

“Every day I am sent gruesome pictures of murders and fatal shootings that I choose not to post because of their graphic nature. At least three to four murders are being reported to me on a daily basis from Eerste River, Hanover Park, Mitchells Plain, Delft and Wesbank,” he said.

This had prompted him to develop an android and desktop app that would allow residents to anonymously contact the police with tip-offs.

However, police were unable to provide numbers for recent gang-related violence due to a “moratorium on statistics”.

Western Cape community safety MEC, Dan Plato condemned the murder in Hanover Park on Monday.

“Gangsterism and drugs are wreaking havoc in our communities with at least 311 innocent people killed last year because of gang violence.

“The recent launch of the Stabilisation Unit promises to bring much needed assistance to the police.

“As a department, we will monitor the success of the (council’s) interventions to see how they can be extended or replicated in other hard-hit areas,” Plato said.

He appealed to communities to report crime to the police.

“We need communities to partner with their respective neighbourhood watches and their crime prevention forums (CPFs) to ensure that criminals taken off the streets by the police and the stabilisation unit remain off the streets.

“One way to help ensure that criminals do not return to the communities they have plagued is to collectively petition against bail applications through the CPFs.”

In relation to the number of recent gang-related deaths and injuries, Van Wyk said: “There is currently a moratorium on statistics and for this reason the police is unable to provide the requested detail.”

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