Cape Town - Action Society has reached out to the provincial government to join forces with it in its fight to tackle the ongoing gang violence on the Cape Flats.
The organisation’s plea to the provincial government follows the death of another youngster on the Cape Flats, this time in Storms River Way, Manenberg.
The fatal shooting, which is being investigated by police, took place over the weekend when an unknown gunman opened fire on the teen, Faried Atson, in an open street, fatally wounding him before fleeing in a silver Mercedes Benz.
Police spokesperson Frederick van Wyk said a report of the incident indicates that the suspect initially fired several shots at the 17-year-old, who ran for cover. However, the guman followed him and shot directly at him, killing him.
“A murder case was opened for further investigation, and no arrests have been made yet,” Van Wyk said.
Action Society founder Roegshanda Pascoe said: “We have been asked for assistance to bring the ongoing gang violence to a stop as the community is tired of the violence, death and destruction.
“Initially, we thought we would support them with marches and demonstrations to give them a platform to voice their frustrations because they have tried to bring an end to the ongoing violence but nothing has worked.”
Pascoe said Action Society has now reached out to the provincial government with a plan to not only focus on addressing gang violence, but the root causes of it.
“We are now waiting for the government to respond to us to present our ideas on how we can turn the tide cohesively, putting collective politics aside and just concentrating on serving our people as we should,” Pascoe said.
“We have also reached out to the provincial police because they too need to come to the table to fix this.”