GANG violence, which exploded in various Cape Flats suburbs in recent weeks, spilt over into Ocean View yesterday with a revenge attack on the home of an alleged drug dealer and the shooting of an alleged gangster in what was apparently a battle for turf.
Battles between the Americans and Hard Livings gangs in Manenberg and Lavender Hill have dominated newspaper headlines in the past two weeks, with three people shot dead and 10 others injured.
In Ocean View yesterday, according to police spokesman Colonel Thembinkosi Kinana, rivals attacked the home of an alleged drug dealer in Pluto Street.
Neighbours and witnesses, who agreed to speak on condition of anonymity because they said they feared for their safety, said about 20 men armed with spades and knives launched an all-out assault on the house at about 8.40am yesterday.
The group used the spades to smash the alleged dealer’s car and damage the motor of a small boat on a trailer.
A neighbour said a petrol bomb was thrown through one of the windows in a bid to lure the man and his friends out. But when that failed, the men tore down the front gate to gain access.
Some of the men reportedly used bricks to try and bash their way through the corrugated iron roof. “They were everywhere. I was sure they were going to kill him and his family. It was in full view of the entire street,” one man said. The sound of police sirens approaching finally scared the men off, and neighbours later escorted the man’s wife and young son from the house. The man the group were apparently after remained inside.
The crowds waited for more than an hour in the rain for police to escort the man, along with two others, into a Nyala and off to the police station. Kinana said when police tried to control the crowd, some residents damaged the tyres of five police vehicles. Eight people were arrested on charges of public violence.
Residents said the assault was a revenge attack after one of the alleged dealer’s guards allegedly killed another enforcer who belonged to a rival gang three weeks ago. They said this was the second attack on the man in recent weeks.
“He (the dealer) and one of his guards were both shot in the leg about two weeks ago. Another man was shot dead after he was caught in the crossfire. He wasn’t a gangster. He was just looking for a place to sleep and got too close to the house,” one woman said.
Residents say they’re now determined that the man must leave the area, where he has lived for two years, before there is another attack.
“He must go now… It’s clear these people won’t stop until they have eliminated the competition. We will not let ourselves or our children become casualties of their war,” one neighbour said.
Meanwhile, a member of the Naughty Boys gang was shot, by rivals from the Hard Livings gang in Ivy Court, across the road from the Pluto Street house.
Kinana said the 32-year-old man was rushed to a nearby hospital in a serious condition at about 9am yesterday and that a case of attempted murder had been opened.
Residents of Ivy Court say the Naughty Boys member was shot in a revenge attack after trying to shoot a member of the Hard Livings.
The Hard Livings member told Weekend Argus:
“They fired three shots at me three times this morning, but all missed. The fighting between us has been going on for more than half a year. They are trying to expand their turf by taking over ours.” -Weekend Argus