March for public safety
Community organisations demand crackdown on gangs and woman, child abuse
ABOUT 300 people under the banner of Cape Flats community-based organisations marched to Parliament and the Legislature, behind the banner of the Western Cape United Safety Front to highlight gang violence.
United Public Safety Front founder John Cloete said the march highlighted safety, with reference to gang violence, gang murder, attempted murder, rape and violence against women and children in the Western Cape.
He said it was clear that government alone could not deal with the increased levels of violence.
“We as the Western Cape Shutdown Movement call for greater co-operation between all spheres of government, policing agencies and metro policing forces, together with civil society, religious organisations and organised labour.”
Residents, trade unionists and organisations that deal with child and women abuse from Mitchells Plain, Ocean View, Elsies River, Manenberg and Lavender Hill, took part.
The march came nine days after the Western Cape Total Shutdown protest in Bonteheuwel, Hanover Park and Kensington.
Police Minister Bheki Cele met with the organisers of the total shutdown in Kensington yesterday to discuss intervention units to stop gangs, drugs and taxi killings on the Cape Flats.
Jodie Andrews said she started Alcaroo Andrews Foundation after her husband Alcaroo Andrews was shot dead for refusing to join a gang in Hanover Park.
“This foundation helps families that lost their loved ones through gang shooting,” she said.
The memorandum handed over by the Western Cape United Safety Front demands police patrols and the appointment of a children’s commissioner.