The area has been tense especially in recent days after three people were shot dead and eight others were wounded.
Hanover Park. Picture: Lizell Persens/EWN.
CAPE TOWN – Hanover Park residents on Tuesday said that action was needed to combat the ongoing gang war in their community.
The area has been tense especially in recent days after three people were shot dead and eight others were wounded.
#HanoverParkGangViolence A young mother was shot while her little 6-year-old girl was with her. The pair were both wounded in their legs. The child is still in hospital following a 5-hour operation. The scene of the crime below. LP pic.twitter.com/YUbzSuN1EY
— EWN Reporter (@ewnreporter) October 6, 2020
The City of Cape Town’s law enforcement agencies were working in tandem with the anti-gang unit to help bring calm.
Wilhelmina Abrahams has been living in Hanover Park for 25 years. She, too, lost a teenage son to gang violence.
Clenching her fists, the 65-year-old mother of six, said she hears the sound of gunfire every morning and every night.
“I don’t know what’s going to be done with these gangsters because they don’t care if they shoot children anymore, and they must all realise that we are all human beings, not animals to be slaughtered,” she said.
#HanoverParkGangViolence Her best friend was murdered in the area on the same day. His funeral was held yesterday. LP pic.twitter.com/KMKp8re10d
— EWN Reporter (@ewnreporter) October 6, 2020
Her son, Kevin Webster, said he went for martial arts training at the age of nine to learn how to protect himself.
The 24-year-old said because he was born in the community, he is desensitised to the violence as its all he has known.
“I’m so used to the violence, it doesn’t even scare me anymore,” he said.
The community members said they refuse to give up on the hope that the situation could change.
