Carlo Petersen
“GIVE me all your guns and your drugs.”
This is the plea Manenberg police station’s new station commander Colonel Hendrie Hugo has made to gangsters in that community.
Speaking to the Cape Times after gangs had agreed to peace following seven months of violence, Hugo said: “If they are honest about wanting peace, they will give me all their guns and all their drugs.”
On Friday, gangs operating in an area of Manenberg known as “The Sevens” agreed to end a feud that has seen at least one person shot every day for the past two months.
Last month, after violence escalated, special police task teams joined up with SANDF soldiers and metro police in a targeted raid through the area.
Community leader Roeg-shanda Pascoe, who chairs the Manenberg Safety Forum consisting of a number of different organisations combating gangsterism and crime in the area, mediated the peace talks which began on Monday last week.
“The people are sick and tired and things have reached a point where the gangsters are sick and tired now too,” she said.
The Sevens is an area which consists of seven blocks of flats known to be the territory of The Clever Kids and The Dixie Boys, who had partnered with The Americans to fight The Hard Livings in a gang war that has been raging since December last year.
Isabel Court resident Shane Sparks, 49, said there had been an air of calm in the area at the weekend.
“It’s such a wonderful feeling. People are moving about freely and without worry. Normally we have shootings every day and people hide in their homes. The peace talks worked,” he said.
Sparks said the gang violence had prevented him from seeing his grandchildren.
“My wife and I don’t have transport and for the past few months I’ve been telling my son not to bring my grandchildren here. Today was the first time I saw them in a long time,” Sparks said.
Hugo said there had been shootings in other areas in Manenberg this weekend, but could not confirm whether they were gang related.
“I want to acknowledge the community leaders. This is a process and the community has taken a big step. In my role I aim to help build a strong community which works together to make gangsterism very difficult. We all have a role to play,” he said.
Hugo was provincial commander of the Police Emergency Services and succeeds Brigadier André van Dyk, who spent eight years at Manenberg police station.
“There’s so much positivity and culture in this community. The vibrancy shows when the gang violence stops.
“I am one hundred percent positive that if the gangs are serious about peace and they give up their guns and drugs, the community will support them to become productive members of society,” he said.