Image via: Michael Jacobs / Facebook
Stop the shooting! Mitchells Plain residents cry out for help from gang unit
Ongoing shootings in Mitchells Plain are claiming the lives of innocent people, including a grandmother sitting in her lounge.
Image via: Michael Jacobs / Facebook
The Mitchells Plain Community Police Forum (CPF) in Cape Town is calling on a gang unit to be established to prevent violent gang-related deaths. CPF chairperson Norman Jantjies told The South African that innocent victims pay the price in most shootings.
In recent cases, two alleged gang members were shot dead during gang violence in Beacon Valley on Wednesday 31 March and a 61-year-old grandmother was gunned down in Westridge on Monday 29 March.
GRANNY SHOT DEAD IN HER LIVING ROOM
“The woman who was killed was sitting in her living room and the door was open when a guy ran inside the house. The guy was apparently being chased, they shot inside the house a few times and she was killed. In this case she had no involvement with gangs,” said Jantjies.
On Facebook one user wrote that it was his high school friend who had lost his mother when gang members allegedly ran into her house.
“A high school friend lost his mother last night when a gang ran into their home here in Westridge when the opposite gang opened fire and the mother was shot in her head and died.”
Police spokesperson Captain FC van Wyk said the gang shooting occurred at 20:15.
“Mitchells Plain police are investigating a murder case after a shooting incident on Monday 29 March, at about 20:15 at Farrier Street, Westridge, Mitchells Plain where a 61-year-old woman was shot and fatally wounded. Circumstances surrounding this incident are under investigation.”
The two men who were killed in Beacon Valley on Wednesday morning were alleged gang members shot by a rival gang.
“It was two Mongrels that was shot dead,” said Jantjies. The Mongrels is one of the gangs operating in the Mitchells Plain area.
Van Wyk said the men were shot at 5:20 in Beacon Valley on Wednesday.
“Mitchells Plain police are investigating a double murder case after a shooting incident on Wednesday at about 05:20 in Hengelaar Street, Beacon Valley, where two males aged 21 and 48 was shot and fatally wounded. Police detectives are following up on leads in order to arrest the suspect/s responsible.”
COMMUNITY MARCH TO HIGHLIGHT GANG SHOOTINGS
The community are understandably concerned about the ongoing gang shootings in the area said Jantjies.
“The shootings affect everyone, whether people are going to church or children to school, it causes trauma. The victims are innocent people at the wrong place at the wrong time. Other times its gang members killed.”
The community held a march against violent shootings and murder earlier this month on 14 March.
Mitchells Plain United Residents Association (MURA), Mitchells Plain Community Police Forum (CPF), and Mitchells Plain Neighbourhood Watches, as well as, the families who lost loved ones through gun violence, held a peaceful and prayerful march through the streets of Beacon Valley and Tafelsig.
The various organisations handed a memorandum to Mitchell’s Plain SAPS, the Premier, Mayor and Provincial SAPS Commissioner to deal with key demands and ensure a collective approach to deal with the shootings and ongoing killings within Mitchells Plain.
Jantjies said police should employ and train more police reservists to deal with the gang shootings.
“There are nine sectors within Mitchells Plain and we are of the opinion that each sector should have two police vehicles and we should have a gang unit in Mitchells Plain.”
Jantjies said for gang violence to be addressed it’s important to address the sale of drugs.
“Many of the gang shootings are drug-related, it’s all about demand and supply so we need to look at this as a whole, to deal with the issue of gangs we need to deal with the issue of drugs.”
“We need to get our structures in place. If we want to hold police accountable, we must be well organised.”
Anyone with information about the fatal shooting incidents are requested to contact the Mitchells Plain Serious and Violent Crimes investigation department at 082-777-8076 or Crime Stop on 08600-10111.
