Buziwe Nocuze
Janica Tamber, a 13-year-old girl from Hillview in Cape Town, is fighting for her life after allegedly being caught in a gang shootout.
The teenager was coming from church with her grandmother Jona Marie when they encountered warring gangs. She was hit by a stray bullet.
The teenager is one of many children in the gang-riddled community who are even afraid to play outside.
Janica was shot in the stomach, and the bullet went through her kidney.
In April, 12-year-old Micaheel Pedro was also shot by a stray bullet on his way to a shop. He still has a bullet lodged in his head as doctors say it’s too risky to operate.
Community member Liticia Matthews told GroundUp that shootings happen all the time.
“They just shoot, even in the yard. Our children can’t play outside anymore. You can’t even stand by your gate,” said Matthews.
Last week the community held a meeting arranged by their ward councillor, Mandy Marr, over safety concerns, especially of children in their area.
Marr said the community has counted 176 people who have been killed in the area in the last three years.
She said the shootings are horrible, with two gangs battling it out. She estimates there are around four killings a month, depending on how bad things are between the rival gangs.
“One of our biggest challenges is that the legal systems fail us, Saps makes arrests, and people are just let out on bail and are back on the streets,” said Marr.
“They need courts to be harsher on criminals.”
She said the city is putting in millions for law enforcement as they know that the police are under-resourced.
Ruth Solomons, spokesperson for the city’s Metro Police department, said they have been deploying staff for the past month daily to address the related activities within the Hillview, Lavender Hill, and Steenberg areas.
But, he said a few successes were reported.
Western Cape spokesperson Colonel Andre Traut said they are aware of the recent tensions between rival gangs in Hillview and other areas plagued by gang violence.
“Our anti-gang unit and other additional operational forces have been deployed in these areas to bring stability to these volatile situations,” said Traut.
He said operations would continue in these areas as they would not allow gangsters to hold communities at ransom with their callous acts of violence.
