14 October 2024
About 100 people, including some police officers, marched under the Silence the Guns campaign banner in Khayelitsha on Saturday, protesting against rising gun crime and extortion. Photo: Mary-Anne Gontsana
Increasing gun and violent crimes in Khayelitsha and surrounding areas led about 100 residents, activists and some police officers to march through Makhaza, Site B and Harare on Saturday.
Under the campaign banner, Silence the Guns, residents and members of community policing forum (CPF) and neighbourhood watches (NHW) demanded an end to gun crimes and extortion in their communities.
They say the number of crimes committed with unlicenced firearms is on the rise.
The Khayelitsha CPF has committed to helping law enforcement remove guns in the community; establish support groups; help to keep youth away from crime and drugs; and change the perception that going to Khayelitsha is like entering a war zone.
Phindile George, CPF secretary at Site B police station and Silence the Guns campaign organiser, said quarterly statistics showed a severe problem of crime involving firearms in their sub-district.
“Crime involving firearms has also hindered communities receiving services from the municipality, Eskom, South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) and social development. Workers who are sent out to our community get robbed, shot at, and as a result residents do not receive these services,” said George.
“We need to help the police … The justice system fails us sometimes, but we are lobbying the police to be part of the stakeholders and work together.”
The community policing initiative can only do so much to curb crime, said George
“What is the point of telling someone not to do drugs or join a gang if there’s no other alternative for them? We are lobbying different stakeholders to put resources into uplifting the youth.”
At the newly built temporary Makhaza police station, marchers sang loudly and danced.
Chris Hani High School learner and junior station commander of Harare police station, Miviwe Ngqutsela, said, “Today we are fighting against crime. As young girls in these communities, we do not feel safe. Every day we feel threatened … We want this to end.”
Chairperson of Kamvalethu NHW in Makhaza Ntombifuthi Klaas told GroundUp: “The areas we marched through are the hotspots for crimes in Khayelitsha.”
Klaas said she joined the NHW in 2013. They patrol on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.
Police Minister Senzo Mchunu announced the fourth quarter crime statistics for the 2023/24 financial year and the first quarter of the 2024/25 financial year. High on the list was murder, rape, hijacking, kidnapping for ransom payments, and extortion.
Four of the nine provinces recorded increases in murders, with the highest increase recorded in the Western Cape. The Western Cape has 11 of the top 30 stations for murder, including Nyanga, Khayelitsha and Harare, according to Mchunu.
Mchunu said the most frequently used weapons for murder were firearms.