Cape Flats residents have been warned of an increase in gang-related violence during the festive season.
|||Cape Town - With more money circulating during the festive period, crime is expected to rise in gang-ravaged areas such as Hanover Park and Mitchells Plain, says Abie Isaacs, chairman of the Mitchells Plain Community Police Forum (CPF).
Gang activities had slowed in Lavender Hill in recent months, but had increased in Hanover Park and Mitchells Plain.
“Drug turf is getting smaller and there is more police intervention. Money this time of year is in high circulation, so it’s not only gang-on-gang violence, but also white-collar crime.”
Matrics at Mount View Secondary School in Hanover Park wrote their English exam on Monday to the sound of gunshots, and p
rincipal Archie Benjamin said police were now stationed outside the school gates.
He said not a year went by without gang activity during exams and the festive period. “Our children are traumatised and have to deal with it through counsellors.”
Since police had been deployed to Manenberg, violence had flared up in Hanover Park.
“We normally advise the pupils to come to school earlier and in the afternoon we phone the police to patrol the area when they go home.”
Dino Abrahams, principal of Crystal High School in Hanover Park, said not one of his 29 years at the school had passed without disruptions.
“At night when children are supposed to be studying, the shooting begins. Our kids have all these barriers impacting on learning. Last week while pupils walked to school they had to dodge bullets and then looked at the body of someone who had been shot dead.”
Hanover Park CPF spokesman Weldon Cameron said drug dealing caused flare-ups at this time of year.
“Some members do not want to be part of the peace treaty. It is, however, mostly the youngsters shooting at each other.”
While gang violence in Lavender Hill has abated, robberies have increased.
Steenberg CPF chairman Kevin Southgate urged people to be careful when carrying money, adding that police, law enforcement and the neighbourhood watch would put measures in place to ensure residents’ safety.
natasha.bezuidenhout@inl.co.za
Cape Argus