Cape Town - A sombre mood permeated the so-called pink flats in Nooitgedacht at Robert Sobukwe Road in Bishop Lavis as residents hosted a candlelight service to commemorate the lives of those who were killed in the area this year.
The area has in the recent past seen a spate of shootings in which numerous people were killed, including three women.
Three family members were killed in an incident on Thursday last week.
Elmoline Kemp, 46, her 13-year-old son Peter and sister Shireen Isaacs were found in the backyard of their house on Thursday.
The family’s 18-year-old son was arrested and is expected to appear in the Bishop Lavis court today.
The incident occurred after another mass murder where three people were shot inside what is believed to be a drug house in Bosberg Street.
Bishop Lavis Community Policing Forum deputy chairperson Amanda Davids said eight murders had been recorded in the area since the start of December.
“The latest triple murder was a complete shock to the whole community, because of the brutality. No one could understand how an 18-year-old boy can do something like that to his mom, brother, and aunt.
“All we can do is come together as a community and work through it. We still have a lot of work to do but we are willing and able,” she said.
Davids said the “Bring out the Lights" theme for this year’s event was to create awareness of safety.
“Rather than sitting inside their houses, we urged residents to come outside with their families for an hour at night and make their streets safe.
“Our community is traumatised and most of them don’t even realise it. These types of events bring awareness and counselling where needed,” Davids said.
“They also help our community to be able to speak out against these violent criminal acts that are becoming the norm. The plan is to hold these continuously in order to prevent this type of violence from becoming normal,” she said.
Bishop Lavis Religious Forum chairperson Wesley Moodley said the ongoing violence, especially by gangsters, had brought the community to a standstill.
He called for stakeholders to collaborate in fighting crime in the area.
Moodley also called for government intervention and for more police visibility.