Cape Town - Cape Town’s townships have become killing fields, according to Community Policing Forum (CPF) provincial chairperson Fransina Lukas.
She was responding to the heartbreaking news of another mass shooting at a home, this time in Gugulethu on Monday afternoon.
Now the police are hoping to find clues to the shooting at NY78 which left seven people dead – four men and three women between the ages of 30 and 40.
Lukas said the trend must not be allowed to continue and the police must take drastic action and work with the community to stop the killings.
The shooting in Gugulethu comes just more than a month after six people were shot dead in Site C, Khayelitsha, in what is believed to be a gang war over the control of extortion rackets.
Police spokesperson Novela Potelwa added two other victims have been injured in yesterday’s shooting. They were taken to a medical facility, she said. She said the details were still sketchy. “An update will be provided in due course.”
While organised crime detectives and pathology services were still busy combing the scene, hundreds of distraught community members gathered around in the street as family members of those who had been shot arrived.
Mbulelo Hlotywa, the uncle of one of the victims, Lumka Hlotywa, said it was heartbreaking to hear of such incidents in his mother’s house. “I will never be well until I die.”
Hlotywa said he was informed by Lumka’s father when he arrived at his home. “We then came to the scene to identify the body. To our surprise many bodies were seen.”
Gugulethu Development Forum (GDF) chairperson Vincent Domingo said townships were under siege, and communities were living in fear.
“All of us are unsafe. Our streets are not safe, criminal elements hold sway over our communities. We don’t have a say because our own government cannot protect us. It is time that our people take a stand, we have to unite and speak with one voice. Let’s reclaim our streets and stop living in fear,” Domingo said.
“What is more saddening is that we have spent millions of rand on the so called safety plan, yet crime and murders have worsened.”
He said while they called on the community members to organize themselves and work closely with police to improve safety in their communities, “we equally call on the Western Cape government to explain where the millions spent in the safety plan went to.”
He said the police must leave no stone unturned when investigating the murders, so they could bring perpetrators to book.
Anyone with information can contact their nearest police station or Crime Stop at 086 00 10111.
Cape Argus