Angry residents have again called for an increase in the police presence in gang-ravaged communities, following a week of brutal murders that includes the gunning down of two children.
And going into the long weekend before the New Year celebrations, communities say tensions between feuding gangs are the main contributors to the rise of shootings that have seen at least 10 people killed in the Bishop Lavis, Valhalla Park and surrounding areas.
The grieving relatives of the two children caught in shoot-outs are making funeral arrangements for Jade Johannes, 4, and a 6-year-old known only as Lesley-Ann, who were gunned down on Christmas Eve.
For the Stanfield family, the shooting of four family members, including Jade, also left his mother, Jodine Johannes, 24, wounded, as well as 8-year-old Rushday, and his uncle, William Stanfield.
Yesterday Jade’s grandmother, Elizabeth Stanfield, fetched her youngest child, Rushday, from the Red Cross Hospital. She had been shot in the stomach.
“We are all sad, shocked, but we are trying to come to terms with it,” she said.
Jade Johannes
The mother of six said they had not told Jodine about the death of her son as she was not strong enough and was still in hospital: “We just don’t know how and what to say, it will break her.”
Residents in Valhalla Park said they were on high alert as they didn’t know when it would “rain bullets” again.
Residents marched to the Bishop Lavis police station earlier in the week to demand an increase in police visibility following the shootings.
Mother-of-five Morgan Daniels, 38, said living in fear of children simply playing outside had become a reality for many parents in her area.
“Our children are not safe to even go out and play right outside of their homes. We have to keep them indoors at all hours because we don’t know when shots will ring out in the streets again,” she said.
“That is no way to raise children. It is holiday season now, they are always at home and they are kids, so they want to go outside and play with their friends.
“But nobody wants to hold the bloody body of their child or have to pick out a coffin for their children instead of Christmas or New Year’s clothes like all the other parents get to do. We are all scared.”
Lesley-Ann
The chairperson of the Manenberg Safety Forum, Roegchanda Pascoe, said the situation was just as bad in her area, as rival gangs continued to take their conflict to the streets.
“We’ve been hearing rumours of all-out gang warfare here in Manenberg, and in the last two weeks we have seen a spike in shootings with talk of the Jesters, Americans and Clever Kids having had a fallout.
“We have had shootings and stabbings, with one man shot dead on Boxing Day and random gunshots going off.
“Now you ask yourself: Where are the safety and prevention plans? We see resources being deployed to beaches when our people are dying in Bishop Lavis and Manenberg.
“We know the trends and patterns of these gangsters - they fight, and just before New Year they stop because they want to take part in the Tweede Nuwe Jaar, and after that it’s back to shootings,” Pascoe said.
“Meanwhile, our children are becoming walking human targets, and it’s unacceptable that every year we sit with these kinds of problems.”
On Thursday, police arrested five suspects in connection with a spate of shootings in the Bishop Lavis area on Christmas Eve. They are expected to appear in court soon.
Community Safety MEC Alan Winde lamented the limited number of police deployed in areas where crime was rife.