Communities on the Cape Flats are bleeding as young children continue to be recruited into gangs.
In a society where young boys are preyed on, parents are left fearful that their children can become the latest victim of gang violence, a choice that is sometimes forced upon them.
Speaking to several residents in Tafelsig, Mitchell’s Plain, it is evident society has failed our children, and all parents have left is the faith that their children will not become a statistic.
“Is hartseer om te sien hoe die kinnes ingesluk word, ons kinnes het niks toekoms nie [sic.]”
“Communities are turning a blind eye, we see what is happening daily and we do nothing to stop it, saying if my child is not affected, it doesn’t affect me.”
“I have seen how young boys are lured into gangs, standing on corners, throwing their lives away and to a certain extent I think that they had little choice in the matter because gangs terrorize our kids into a life of crime.”
Speaking to VOC News, a single mother from Mitchells Plain said her 13-year-old son became one of the many victims of gang recruitment.
“My son has the gang sign on his body, I had to send him away for his own protection, and to rehabilitate him. It is one of the worse kinds of pain that any parent can go through knowing you invested and sacrificed so much for your children, and this is how things end up. I blame myself at times, what did I do to deserve this, what did my son do to deserve a life like this,” she added.
“There are so many behavioural changes I noticed in my son that was once so innocent and pure. My son told me he chose this lifestyle because he was tired of seeing the family struggle, living from one place to the other. I believe I will reform my child, but what about the other parents who already lost their kids,” she stressed.
Speaking to a 34-year-old Mitchell’s Plain resident, who was recruited as a member of the 28 gang in his pre-teens, he said that he was looking for love and acceptance in all the wrong places.
“They entice you with the glamour of it all, not telling you that someone might have to be brutally killed just so that the gangs could flourish. If I knew what I know now, joining a gang would never [have] been an option for me, I wasted so many years of my life, going in and out of jail for things I was forced to do, and the sad part is when I was alone in those cells, friends were few,” he added.
“Prison is not a place for children, let alone adults, your life belongs to whoever has control over you, they tell you what to do, when to do it and it is dangerous. At any given time, a fight can break out, with no guarantee that you will not be killed, molested or tortured throughout your sentence,” he stressed.
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