Residents to flush out gangs

Klipbok Street was cordoned off after the shootout between rival gangs and members of the Kraaifontein SAPS.

In the wake of a shootout between Kraaifontein police and rival gangs in Scottsdene, residents are teaming up to take back a community they say is captured by gangsters.

Officers responding to a shooting in Klipbok Street, Scottsdene, just after 11am, last Thursday, had been caught in the gang crossfire and they had returned fire, said Kraaifontein police spokesman, Captain Hein Henricks.

“During the shootout, the driver of the police vehicle lost control and drove through a fence and into a resident’s home. A 25-year-old man sustained injuries to his legs and knees, but none of the police members were injured or killed,” he said.

Eight suspects were held for questioning but later released.

“No suspects were arrested or charged at this stage. Detectives are working around the clock in an effort to find the perpetrators.”

The Kraailove Community Organisation says residents can do more to stop gangs terrorising them.

Ricardo Absalon, a member of the group, said the community too often let itself be held hostage by gangsters, some as young as 8.

“Kraaifontein lacks proper leadership, but residents won’t take it upon themselves to make a change,” he said.

Youth needed guidance, including being encouraged to do well in school and taught that there was more to life outside Kraaifontein.

“Because of poverty our youth is being lured in by the material things, such as money and takkies. Their parents can’t afford it, but gangs can so they become part of it, to look the part,” he said.

He believes Kraaifontein SAPS can do more to work with organisations and keep young people out of jail.

Community activist Kelly Baloyi said crime in Kraaifontein was sickening, but the community remained “despondent and accepts their living conditions”.

She said: “We all need to understand that communities need to stand together and address the issues affecting us, as a unit.”

Changing the community should start with protecting children from the social ills plaguing it.

“Our young people are getting involved with the wrong things due to the lack of opportunities our community has to offer. So they turn to drugs, being a school drop-out and gangsterism.”

Ms Baloyi, with the help of some community leaders, arranged a meeting for all residents willing to make a change in their community, which Northern News attended on Thursday March 7, but only eight people showed up.

Scottsville resident Gavin Riddles said crime had spiralled so badly out of control in the neighbourhood he had little faith in the police being able to control it.

“The trust between communities and Kraaifontein police must be rebuilt…They need to find new ways to safeguard communities,” he said.

Police could not handle the pressure from all the areas in Kraaifontein, including informal settlements, he said.

“Kraaifontein police is already understaffed and with the new Maroela housing project, more than 2000 people, from all areas are joining our community. They already can’t handle most areas,” he said.

Police should patrol day and night and not just when something happened.

Responding to accusations that police weren’t doing enough, Captain Hendricks said officers patrolled regularly in Kraaifontein’s high-risk areas and worked closely with neighbourhood watches.

“Unfortunately we cannot reveal our specific crime-combating strategies and plans, but we have taken policing closer to the communities with regular patrols and the establishment of the base camp in Scottsdene as a 24-hour-a-day contact point.”