[imagesource:deviantart]

The number of children getting involved in gang activity in the Cape Flats is getting out of hand.

Crime fighters in the area have been alarmed as child gangsters become more rampant during the school holidays.

In places like Ottery, Manenberg, Grassy Park, Mitchells Plain, and Hanover Park, gang violence is ramping up, with bystanders often caught in the crossfire.

Community activist Lynn Phillips told Cape Town ETC that students are linked to gangs quite frequently, being used to traffic drugs and sell them in schools.

“Regardless of age, once recruited, these children are often armed,” said Phillips.

Hanover Park CPF spokesperson Kashiefa Mohammed emphasised the tragic reality of children, some as young as 10, carrying guns and committing violent acts under gang orders.

“These kids should be playing games and sports, but instead, they’re drawn to gangs for quick money,” she said, noting the lack of harsh consequences for young offenders.

In a recent case, Shante Adams, only 17, was shot dead while sitting with friends in Delft. Her mother, Griszelda, devastated and struggling to cope with the loss, recounted how her daughter was shot in the head while sitting in a Wendy house, thinking the noise was just stones being thrown. Tragically, Shante’s death is the third in their family due to gang violence.

Crime fighters have even raised the alarm over the use of hectic drugs among children on the Cape Flats after an eight-year-old boy from Elsies River was found high on the drug, per IOL.

The shocking case was spotted by Leonsdale ward councillor, Franchesca Walker, earlier last month, who says community workers who tried to assist the child were left dumbfounded when the boy tested positive for four types of drugs including cocaine.

“He tested positive for mandrax, tik, heroin and cocaine and we were very very shocked. We looked further into this and found that the teachers at local schools and parents are at their wits’ end with drug use among children in Leonsdale, but cocaine is becoming a very big concern”, said Sister Magda Kleyn, CEO of Tehillah Centre.

“We found out that the children can buy cocaine for just R50, and they even buy just one line to sniff for R20 if they don’t have R50.”

Lavender Hill CPF chairperson Gavin Walbrugh expressed deep concern over the increasing gang violence despite police presence, noting this rise in violence during school holidays.

According to the Western Cape Department of Health, between 1 January and 12 June 2024, public health facilities treated 333 children for firearm-related injuries, with 58 fatalities. The department reported a rise in child deaths due to firearms from 83 in 2022 to 89 in 2023.

While most children treated for gunshot wounds were unintended victims caught in gang crossfire, some are active in the gang trap, harming friends and elders as if there is only one future ahead of them.

[source:capetownect]