The northern areas of Port Elizabeth are hoping that the recent announcement by President Cyril Ramaphosa about the establishment of gang task-force police initiative will filter down to the Eastern Cape.
The community of Bethelsdorp in the gang ridden northern areas of Port Elizabeth is reeling following the death of two minors and a teenager in a suspected gang killing. Communities who do witness violent crimes turn a blind-eye out of fear.
Statistics indicate that the Bethelsdorp area is ranked among the top 30 most dangerous areas in South Africa.
While Gelvandale, also in the northern areas, tops the national list in terms of attempted murder.
“He was not a gangster he was just someone who liked to wear fancy clothes,” says mother of one of the victims of crime in the area.
Three friends aged- aged, eight, 14 and 17 years-old were gunned down. Suspected gangsters stormed the house at midnight.
They opened fire, killing the young boys and injuring four others. The emotional mother of one of the deceased, who wishes to remain anonymous fearing for her life, says her son lost his life for nothing.
“He was in the youth, he was playing drums and active in the community. I don’t know why they took my child away, he was not a gangster.”
The woman’s husband was one of the first people at the scene. “I don’t know what to do, the only thing that came into my mind was to pray for my son and I went to him and prayed and I saw him struggling to breathe and I prayed for his friend who was lying next to him and when I finished praying I then looked up and all I saw was dead bodies.”
Anglo Sharp who lost his son says the senseless killings will resort to communities taking the law it into their own hands. He says he hopes police find his child’s killer.
“I am praying that they will get them, they deserve the same thing that they did to those kids.”
One resident says community members do not speak out about what they see, because they cannot rely on the police to protect them. “I am living in fear, everyone is living in fear in this community and people are not talking because they are afraid.”
There are currently more than 17 gangs operating in the northern areas, roping in children as young as 10-years-old. Police are now strengthening the gang unit. The unit has also implemented the use of the shot spotter – a gunshot detecting system to blow the whistle on crime.
“On top of what we had in this cluster the provincial commissioner has deployed an additional 30 members from the province who are part of the anti-gang unit task team that is being deployed since two weeks ago in this area,” says Cluster Commander Thembisile Patekile.
A reformed gangster who also wishes to remain anonymous says the gang wars go beyond drugs and turf war. He says the gangs operate as a society which is associated with respect, status and money.
Killing, he says, can be a right of passage. No official statistics have been published about gang related deaths in Nelson Mandela Bay.
At this stage the motive for the attacks remains unclear. For the families, all they have now is the hope that their children’s killers will be brought to book.
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