The massacre of innocent children, caught in the crossfire of gangs, has reached shocking levels and the police and local authorities can no longer merely promise to take action while there are children being killed every week, says Dr Corné Mulder, leader of the FF Plus in the Western Cape.
According to Dr Mulder – based on the information available to the FF Plus – this year more than 60 children have died due to violence in the Cape. The majority of these deaths is as a result of gang-related violence in the Cape Flats.
This past week, a matric learner from High School Elsiesriver, Joshem Jacobs (19), died when a stray bullet hit him in the head while he was standing on the balcony of a schoolfriend’s flat.
The eight-year-old Damian Swart from Scottsdene was buried at the weekend after he was fatally injured when a stun grenade exploded in is face during yet another incident of gang-related violence.
The two-year-old Jalin Alexander from Elsiesriver underwent surgery this week after she was shot in the mouth at the weekend during gang wars. She is currently recuperating in the Red Cross Children’s Hospital.
Dr Mulder says that the community must no longer settle for empty promises of steps that will be taken, strategies and action plans; because nothing comes of it.
“Early in September this year, the deputy Minister of Police announced the umpteenth ‘strategy’ to combat gang-related violence in the Cape Flats, but as things stand at present, it seems like the announcement was, like all the others, nothing but an empty promise.
“The FF Plus now adds its voice to the voices of all the people that suffer due to gang-related violence as well as the friends and families of all those young victims in saying that ‘Enough is enough!’ The time has come for the people of the Cape Flats to have a say in the matter, specifically with regard to their children’s lives,” says Dr Mulder.
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