Cape Town - The mother of a Hanover Park teenager who died last week, almost two years after a stray bullet from a gang shootout left him paralysed, says drastic intervention is needed in gang-ridden areas.
Sulaiman Jacobs, who was attending the Batavia School of Skills in Claremont at the time, was waiting for the bus to school when he was struck by the bullet.
In an interview with the Cape Argus earlier this year, his mother, Washiefa Jacobs, recalled the day:
“The bus stop is around the corner from my house. It was 7.45am. I heard the shots and I remember saying ‘I hope it’s not an innocent person that was shot’. Then someone came to tell me that it was my child that had been shot.”
Later that day doctors informed her that her only child was paralysed. He spent several months at the Western Cape Rehabilitation Centre.
Jacobs said that following the shooting her son had many health problems and in recent months was hospitalised several times.
His health problems were not the only change the family had to adapt to.
After the shooting, Sulaiman didn’t like to go outside anymore. Jacobs, a single mother, also had to give up her job as a baker to look after her son full-time.
Jacobs said enough victims had died at the hands of gangs.
“The shooter got 13 years in jail. If he gets parole, he will be out sooner. I’m sitting without a child. How is that fair to anyone who has lost a child? Something drastic has to be done to stop this.”
Hannes Swart, principal of Sulaiman’s alma mater, Batavia School of Skills, said he had been a role model to everyone at the school.
In May the Cape Argus visited the school, when they surprised Sulaiman with a motorised wheelchair.
At the time, Swart said that despite his injuries, Sulaiman had managed to finish his schooling.
On Tuesday he said: “He was such an exemplary learner. Despite his challenges, he was always cheerful.”
Ebrahim Abrahams, chairman of the Hanover Park Community Police Forum, said intervention was needed to help prevent that what had happened to Sulaiman and many other innocent victims from happening again.
“What is needed is the political will to deal with the issues.”
He said the CPF would convene a “bosberaad” within the next few weeks to discuss a safety plan for the area.
Cape Argus