Cape Town - A Cape Flats mother, backed by her community, is on a mission to restore peace on the Cape Flats after having lost her husband during a tragic incident that also paralysed her youngest daughter.
The Kube family has been struggling to come to terms with the violent loss of husband and father who was shot and killed in a hail of bullets on April 8 whilst out on a doughnut run with his family.
The mother, who does not want to be named for safety reasons, said her life drastically changed when she witnessed the murder of her husband by alleged gang members, who opened fire on the family’s car killing her spouse and permanently injuring her 5-year-old daughter while her other daughter managed to escape with only minor injuries.
“My children are not coping. I can see the pain there and the damage done in one day. Their lives have been altered because of this ongoing violence.
“I can’t sit back and watch and hope the police will figure it out. I am standing up for them, my husband and all the other children who are mercilessly killed in these streets.
“My husband was a good person, who was loved in the community and my children innocent. Now one of them has been left paralysed. There is no excuse for that and I can’t keep quiet. Just last week another young boy was shot and killed, if we don’t work for the change tomorrow will be another one,” she said.
“Our families are dying on the Cape Flats and the police are doing the bare minimum, we need for more to be done, we need our streets back from gangsters. We can’t keep burying innocent people anymore.
“I refuse to let this continue, it’s not just about my family it’s about all the families living on the Cape Flats. We demand urgent interventions, the same priority treatment other communities get,” she said.
Kube, alongside several community members, recently held a placard demonstration at Ravensmead police station in protest against the rampant gang violence in communities across the Cape Flats. According to the group, they intend to follow up with more demonstrations should nothing change in their community.
Mitchell’s Plain community activist Marvin Sampson said: “Our children are dying every day and while we can understand the problems within the police force we can’t sit back and watch either.
“We need the local government to step up and step in with their resources. We need constant policing in hotspot areas and for the government to work with us to safeguard our children.”