Durban - A Wentworth pastor and uncle to one of the latest casualties of gang violence in the area, says he will not allow the few “bad apples” to hold the community to ransom.
Pastor Donovan Anderson was among clergymen who marched through the notorious south Durban suburb on Sunday, declaring enough was enough.
His nephew, Kyle Morrow, was shot dead after allegedly clashing with members of a gang at a nightclub in Florida Road last month.
Soon after this, Anderson’s church - the Apostolic Faith Mission - was petrol-bombed, allegedly by gangsters.
“I have been threatened many times. These so-called gangsters are the minority and we are not going to allow them to dictate to us, they are not above the law,” he said.
About 500 people marched through the streets singing and chanting, “Enough is enough”.
They stopped at known drug dens, and spoke to the “devil” dealers, calling on them to repent or “pack their bags and go”.
Pastor Earl Wilkinson of First Dominion Ministries stopped outside the home of 71-year-old Thelma Wiseman who was injured when her Wiest Road flat was sprayed with bullets last month.
He said the block was a drug hot spot. “Drug transactions worth millions happen here. We see all kinds of people coming to this epicentre of drug deals. Our greatest concern is that children watch this and it feeds their reality,” said Wilkinson.
Many of the marchers wore T-shirts from the NGO, Wentworth Warriors.
Now reformed, the organisation’s founder, Allan Joseph, joined a gang at the age of 16.
He now uses his story to reach out to gangs and to raise awareness at schools. “We all knew they sold drugs and protected their territories with guns, but it was the only way we thought to make money. We thought that life and going to prison was the fashion.”
Joseph spent 18 years behind bars for various “gang-related crimes” before his release in 2010.
He said he believed Wentworth would not be won until the families of the drug peddlers and gang members outed them and religious leaders talked to them.
He pointed a finger at police for being drawn into protecting or turning a blind eye to gang-related crime, claiming some were paid off.
Wentworth police station commander, Colonel Deon Singh, was with the police contingent marshalling the marchers. Asked for comment, he referred the Daily News to the provincial communications team, saying he was merely on duty.
Wentworth-born Eric Apelgren, head of eThekwini Municipality’s International and Governance Relations unit, was at the march.
He said: “Drugs are really destroying young lives.”
He believes young people are “seduced” by drug lords and the lifestyle, but got caught up in territorial battles, dying in the crossfire.
“Wentworth has so much potential, but because of drugs and the lack of cohesion, the community is prevented from reaching that potential,” said Apelgren.
The director of the clothing label, Life by Andre Martin, was at the march in solidarity with the youth whose opportunities were often “stolen by crime and drugs”. Martin said he feared bringing his own children to visit extended family as he had done as a child.
His father, former resident, Colin Martin, said he had moved his family to secure his children’s futures. “I was heartsore leaving, but it’s really gone downhill, there is vast unemployment and people are living in squalor.”
Also born in the area, councillor Diana Hoorzuk said the municipality condemned gangsters and drug lords who made money out of people’s poverty.
MPL Bishop Vusi Dube, joined religious leaders and politicians in saying it was their duty to support people who were tired of crime and drugs. “The fact that they are doing this during youth month shows this community values its young people,” he said.
Daily News