Community leaders in Elsies River are up in arms over the continued blood-letting as gangsters fell innocent victims in their to-and-fro shooting.
In the early hours of last Sunday, five people were shot at a residence in Alard Road, Clarke Estate, when gunmen opened fire.
A male aged 17 and a mother 26 were killed while two men aged 18 and 20 and a woman aged 41 were admitted to hospital with serious gunshot wounds.
When Weekend Argus contacted the Elsies River police station over the latest shooting, the publication was told by Colonel Payi that all enquiries are handled by the Western Cape media liaison office.
Police spokesperson Warrant Officer Joseph Swartbooi said: “Elsies River detectives are hard at work pursuing leads in a bid to apprehend the suspects who are responsible for the death of a male and a female and the attempt to kill two males and a female in Elsies River on Sunday.
“The motive for this double murder and attempted murder is yet to be determined. The unknown suspects fled the scene and they are yet to be arrested.”
This is one of many incidents reported this week alone. Two men were also shot in Salberau, Elsies River, on Wednesday and another two young men were shot and injured on Monday in Avonwood, Elsies River.
The two were rushed to hospital, but according to a reliable source, one of the victims is a 19-year-old who did not survive the attack. The shooting is alleged to be gang-related.
Captain FC Van Wyk said the circumstances surrounding this shooting were under investigation.
When asked what is being done about the shootings and whether they would get more boots on the ground, enquiries were ignored.
A resident from Elsies River, who wished to remain anonymous, said they felt like they were living in Iraq.
“It is war, especially at night. When I get out of work I stay in my house and can’t dare to walk around. The apparently are going to shoot anyone to get revenge …
“We are living in constant fear. Nowhere is safe, we hear gunshots in the early hours of the morning, late night and some of them are innocent people who are getting killed.”
Community leaders Steve Ross and Claudine Coleridge said they were in talks with gangs as mediators regarding peace. They said that they met two colonels at Elsies River SAPS on Monday with four other community members where they expressed their concerns over the killings and that it appears police were not doing anything. Feedback from the meeting was that the SAPS were having challenges with resources.
“We expressed concern about the murder rate. A solution must be found between SAPS and community leaders to maintain peace. It was also agreed that the crime economy is bigger than Elsies and that should also be considered in the wider scheme of things. For now the main focus is to bring calm to the communities and to allow people to go to work and children to go to school.”
Ross said that the war is no longer about turf but revenge over the killings between the Terribles, Horribles and Bad Boys.
“We want to sit with the gangs hopefully in the coming week and talk about how we can end this.”
Imraahn Mukaddam, from the Elsies River Community Police Forum, said: “Currently the Cape Flats including Elsies River is in the midst of a gang and drug war. With almost daily incidents of shootings, our community is gripped by fear for our lives and our children.
“We have gangs of smash and grabbers preying on commuters, extortion of almost all our small businesses is rampant and our children cannot move from one part of their suburb to the next because gang territories have made our community spaces war zones.”