WC to put interventions in place to reduce gang-related harm
Three children were caught in gang crossfire in the past two weeks.
CAPE TOWN, April 7 (ANA) – The Western Cape provincial government will be driving safety interventions to reduce gang-related harm, Community Safety MEC Albert Fritz said on Wednesday.
This follows incidents where stray bullets have hit a number of young people in Manenberg and Hanover Park.
In a statement released on Wednesday, Fritz said he was appalled by the incidents in which a 19-year-old from Hanover was struck by a stray bullet in the spine while playing in a football tournament in Philippi on Monday, an 8-year-old boy was put in hospital after being shot in the head on Saturday afternoon while playing along the road in Manenberg, and a 4-year-old girl was shot in the eye in Hanover Park on March 25. The girl has finally been discharged from hospital.
He wished each of the children involved a speedy recovery and said it was unacceptable that people on the Cape Flats, particularly the youth, are constantly subjected to such “terrorism” where simply playing outside can result in serous injury or even death.
“As a provincial government, we are hard at work implementing numerous initiatives aimed at putting an end to this, and to restore calm to our communities,” Fritz said.
He said his department’s efforts include working closing with Law Enforcement Advancement Plan (LEAP) personnel, the South African Police Service (SAPS) and all other enforcement agencies to ensure the deployment of technical teams in the six communities with the highest rates of murder and violence. Over time, this will be extended to 16 areas, he said.
Fritz said his department has also put in place amendments to the Western Cape Liquor Act that will focus on reducing alcohol-related harm and the violence and abuse that accompanies it.
He said his department is also setting up integrated area-based teams which bring together violence prevention, law enforcement and urban design and social cohesion as part of integrated interventions to stop the violence in the short and long terms.
“Through the Western Cape Safety Plan, the Western Cape government and the City of Cape Town have deployed approximately 500 LEAP officers to Delft, Nyanga, Khayelitsha, Philippi and Bishop Lavis. The contingent was redeployed in October 2020 to mitigate the impact of gang-related crime,” Fritz said.
He added that by the end of the year, additional LEAP officers will be deployed to areas such as Kraaifontein, Harare, Mfuleni and Gugulethu.
– African News Agency (ANA); Editing by Yaron Blecher