Act now to stem the venom of violence

Afight between pupils at a primary school may not be considered particularly unusual or menacing. That is, until you hear that those who broke it up were shocked to have to confiscate weapons from the children involved. This is not normal. And yet this is life in Port Elizabeth’s violencewracked northern areas – an existence which residents equate to a living hell. These are neighbourhoods where people should be able to live peacefully and have a good night’s sleep, safe in the knowledge they are secure in their homes – something their more affluent fellow citizens might take for granted.

But here, gun-slinging gangsters and criminals dictate how they must live, when they can move about, and whether or not they will be able to sleep at all given the constant bombardment of bullets outside. All the time living in constant fear for their families’ lives. This is not normal.

The chilling picture to emerge from a community-driven safety indaba in Helenvale this week – as the example of weapons at a junior school clearly showed – is that this endemic lawlessness is seeping into the behaviour of teens and even younger children.

The contamination of young minds in this manner is lethal – for all concerned – and this must surely be where all-out efforts are made to stem the venom of violence.

The residents of the northern areas – many too terrified to report suspicious activity – want to take back their streets. And they want their communities to figure out how this can be done.

But they should not have to be doing it alone. It is incumbent on our broader citizenry to give impetus to their desire for a normal life.

Whatever initiatives and strategies can be constructed between law enforcement agencies, community leaders and every man and woman with a conscience must start happening. And soon.