Durban - Teenage gangs are running rampant in Durban, with community organisations reporting that school pupils are increasingly behind armed robberies and hijackings.
They laid part of the blame on parents and schools, accusing them of being in denial and refusing to take action against their wayward children.
Just last week Durban architect Robert Johnson, 64, was beaten up and robbed by a group of boys aged about 15 - and wearing school uniforms - after his car broke down on the N2 near the old Durban airport.
Earlier this month a 20-year-old Grade 11 Phoenix pupil, also in uniform, was arrested while allegedly trying to escape from a hijacked vehicle after it crashed in the township.
In November last year, a pupil, 17, from the same Phoenix school was arrested for possession of an unlicensed firearm.
Community organisations say teenage thugs were increasingly becoming a concern.
“Crimes committed by pupils are rife. As community policing forums, we have made a lot of arrests and handed pupils over to police. But after appearing in court, the magistrates let them go back to our communities without rehabilitation,” said Anood Rampersad of the Croftdene Residents’ Association in Chatsworth. “Or they’re given six months in jail because they’re drug addicts.”
Said Rampersad: “School principals and parents are in denial when we report crimes committed by their children. Because children know they have their support, they continue to do these things. Schools are in denial to protect the image of the schools.”
Chairman of the Bayview Community Policing Forum, Kenny Venkatasen, echoed Rampersad’s concerns. “When children have committed housebreaking or robbery, they (the police) don’t even take them to the police station. Maybe there are problems with the police arresting them,” Venkatasen said.
“I am not too sure if the issue is with the judiciary, but the culprits carry on with crime and terrorise females particularly… You find them in school uniforms, especially in Chatsworth. You find them carrying illegal weapons,” he said.
“The whole issue starts with parents who can play a bigger role. However, without them, these children would become a bigger threat to society.”
Venkatasen said pupils became arrogant when teachers tried to offer guidance, and said they committed crimes while “mostly high on drugs”.
Recreational facilities in some Durban communities that could keep teenagers busy were “non-existent”, he said.
Johnson, who had also been robbed at gunpoint in Inanda by a teenager in school uniform in 2003, said last week’s incident was worst.
There was a group of about 10 pupils 7m from where his car was parked after it had broken down near the old airport, he said. “I saw what I thought were just schoolchildren; small children in school uniforms. I thought there was a school around and they might be on a big break.”
Johnson noted that the children had been looking at him for a while before four of them approached him at his car.
“I assumed they were curious. They approached me. I didn’t see them at the time because I was dialling a number on my phone trying to get help. Next thing, they were on the windows. They just appeared.”
Johnson said after he had earlier inspected his car, he sat in the passenger’s seat, away from traffic. Several pupils came to his window while one approached the driver’s side.
“I said ‘good morning. I am broken down’. I thought they were just curious and came to offer help. I didn’t think they had criminal intent,” he said.
But when the one on the driver’s side opened the door and got into his car, he realised something bad was about to happen. “I asked ‘what are you doing?’ and without saying anything, they started beating me. They simply punched me in the head from the outside of the window while the one in the driver’s seat was fighting to get my phone in my hand.”
Johnson said he did not see any weapons. “As one started to attack me, I looked around and they were all smiling, almost laughing. They became very ugly. It is not what you would expect from schoolchildren.”
He said he could not react as punches from the aggressive young boys became more rapid and he had to let go of his phone, which he said they took before running off when a truck pulled over in front of his car.
Johnson said his attackers left him shaken and in shock. He was taken to a safe area in Montclair where he managed to get help to call the police.
“I had some clear impression that they (the thugs) have skills in doing this thing by the indication that they had all angles covered. They had it well planned and it seems as they have done this before and knew what my reaction would be. I was shocked,” he said.
“Even if I had a firearm, I don’t think I would have reacted enough,” he said.
Johnson said that after attending to him, the police rushed to where his car had been left.
“Police said they should go to check the car because the children would go back and strip it. And that was the case as the battery was already gone before the police got there.”
There is no school in the immediate vicinity and, as the attackers were wearing the standard uniform of grey trousers and white shirts, it was impossible to pinpoint which school they attended.
The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education said schools that were in denial about pupils who commit crime to protect the image of the school must be reported to the department for investigation.
“We are calling on parents to act because they are the ones who notice when their children’s behaviour changes,” said spokesman Muzi Mahlambi.
The government should not be blamed for not providing recreational facilities to keep the restless youth occupied, he said.
“You will find that there are sport facilities in these places but they are choosing to do their own sport.”
Mahlambi said the culprits, no matter their age, should be dealt with by police.
“Crime is a crime, whether you are in church uniform or school,” he said. “We are saying police must deal with them accordingly and we cannot come up with another way of dealing with criminals.”
Daily News