Over the past few months a number of innocent people, in the wrong place at the wrong time, have been affected by the gang violence in Mitchell’s Plain. Last week the DA took to the streets with their placards, calling for the #armynow. They want the South African National Defence Force to be deployed to the streets of Cape Town’s gang-ridden areas. Police have already set up a base camp in AZ Berman Drive, Tafelsig, as part of Operation Thunder, a national intervention aimed at rooting out gang violence and other serious crimes on the Cape Flats. Police Minister Bheki Cele launched the operation in Portland on May 15 and deployed an additional 269 police offices, comprising Special Task Force, Tactical Response Teams, Public Order Police, detectives and crime intelligence operatives conducting operations in an effort to quell violent incidents plaguing the Western Cape communities (“New station planned”, Plainsman, May 23). MARSHA LEITCH asked residents what their thoughts were on the call for the army to be deployed to gang-ridden areas.
From our Facebook page
Ruth Hope: “We also lost two innocent lives in our community. How many must still die before government hear us? It will not bring back the people that have passed on but we need help.”
Korrel Korrel: “Well, to keep our communities safe SANDF should take on civilians because they don’t care who they shoot so I suggest SANDF should take action for our children’s safety as well as ours.”
Candice Permall: “Perhaps men need to come back to God (whichever one) and stop trying to be ouens.
“Why is the life of crime and drugs more appealing to our youngsters? Perhaps it is due to their fathers’ not being around. They can’t even look after themselves but they want to have a baby. Contraception is free but yet, we have so many children running around especially in these poor areas. The government can’t fix this problem. Why must the army be deployed? Fix the root of the problem first.”
Shamiela Osman: “Death sentence for those who are caught. Justice for the innocent blood shed.”