Cape Town – Townships are experiencing an upsurge in mass shootings and an increase in gang activity that has crime experts, community activists and politicians worried.
This is after an eighth person died from injuries sustained in a mass shooting in Gugulethu that initially left seven people dead and two wounded.
Criminologist at Stellenbosch University’s political science department, Guy Lamb, said: “What we have seen in Gugulethu recently – also in Khayelitsha, Philippi East and Nyanga – are incidents of mass killings, some of which were gang-related, one gang fighting another gang, but they are not always gang-related.”
Lamb said sometimes the killings were related to tensions between gangs and vigilantes. “We have seen that in Philippi East where massacres happened because of conflict between vigilante groups, community groups and gangs.
“Also, what we have seen in Khayelitsha earlier this year was that killings happened in the context of shebeens, so that may or may not be related to tensions between shebeen owners. Also, we may have seen conflicts between different groups that may come from different areas, that aren’t necessarily gangs,” he said.
ANC provincial spokesperson for community safety, Mesuli Kama, said the Gugulethu attack was not an isolated incident. “All our townships have experienced these kinds of murders.”
Community Policing Forum (CPF) provincial chairperson Fransina Lukas said the police must pull up their socks.
“This seems like a continuous war raging in townships where gangsters fight over territory and protection money. This has gone too far and too many lives have been lost in the process,” Lukas said.
Parliament’s police portfolio committee chairperson, Tina Joemat-Pettersson, said the killings were concerning in the context of the worrying upward trend in murders in general in the country.
“Also, the shooting follows a similar killing of six people in Khayelitsha in September, five people in Joe Slovo in October and the killing of seven people in Philippi in July.”
Joemat-Pettersson emphasised the importance of collaboration between the police and the community to stop crime in communities.
“The situation on the Cape Flats requires all stakeholders to rally together and fight these crimes head-on,” she said.
She called on police and the Anti-Gang Unit to come up with strategies as the festive season drew near.
“The proliferation of illegal firearms in our streets is also an issue of concern,” she said.
One of the problems that had surfaced was gangsters demanding protection money from businesses and people who had jobs.
Mayco member for safety and security, JP Smith, said he called a meeting with the Police Minister Bheki Cele to work together to find a solution to this problem.
He said the request was initially facilitated by the Community Safety MEC Albert Fritz and followed up soon after by a broader meeting with the police, the provincial government, the City and other stakeholders.
Fritz said during the meeting it was agreed that a transversal steering committee would be established. However, the committee has not yet been convened.
Cape Argus