Cape Town -
At least four teenagers have been killed in shooting incidents in the city within days, said Community Safety MEC Dan Plato in reaction to the shooting of an 18-year-old and a man in Grassy Park.
When Plato spoke to the Cape Times on Wednesday, he said he had just been on a visit to the families of two teenagers shot dead outside a Kraaifontein school on Sunday night.
Olivia Louw, 13, and Ranoldo Smith, 15, were killed in Scottsdene. Plato said there was also an incident in Uitsig in which a 15-year-old boy was shot dead, and another teenager wounded in Mitchells Plain.
He said the department had launched a holiday programme with churches to get about 20 000 young people occupied during their time away from school.
“I’m so appalled that a lot of our young people are being shot in these incidents. It is a concern for us that youngsters under the age of 20 are involved in these shootings,” Plato said.
He said police had made arrests in the Uitsig case.
There had been no arrests in a murder investigation after two men were gunned down in Grassy Park, said police spokeswoman Noloyiso Rwexana.
She said the pair had been standing with another man in a courtyard of a block of flats near Fifth Avenue in Lotus River when two men opened fire on them.
Two died and the third was taken to hospital, Rwexana said. The shooting might be gang-related over drugs. Rwexana said the motive was still being investigated.
Lotus River, Ottery, Grassy Park Ratepayers and Residents Association chairman Philip Bam feared crime was “spiralling”.
He said the shooting should sound alarm bells for the police and the community.
“The community has to be more vigilant and the police have to be alert and act to deal with the problem,” Bam said.
“We are concerned about the spiralling of lawlessness and the shootings in our area.
“That area is a hotspot. It has always been problematic.”
According to him, the association was concerned about the safety of the community, and, in particular, the elderly and children were more vulnerable to gangs.
Bam said “it was clear” that police interventions to address crime in the area were not working because there was a spike in shootings.
He felt there was not enough police visibility in the areas and said police should focus on removing illegal firearms from circulation.
This could be done through random searches, he suggested, citing an incident in which a farm stall was robbed and an ATM inside it blown up in Ottery as one of the instances of rampant criminal operations.
Anyone with information on both shootings can contact their nearest police station or CrimeStop anonymously on 08600 10111.
Cape Times