An urgent prayer meeting for peace was held in Cafda last Friday, February 23, after a flare up of violence in the area left one man dead in a fatal stabbing.
According to Wendy Walton, secretary of the Cafda Neighbourhood Watch, the meeting was a joint effort by the residents in Walton/Chopin Circle, the street committee, neighbourhood watch and various stakeholders, “To create a feeling of Ubuntu. To share in the frustration and concerns of the community pertaining to the innocent lives affected and lost by the pandemic of gangsterism, drug use, robberies and killing of innocent people.”
Ms Walton said a group of residents gathered outside the home of the man who was fatally stabbed on Tuesday February 20, in broad daylight, mere metres away from his home. He was stabbed with a knife and left to bleed out on the street corner. Two other men were also stabbed in the attack.
“This has left the community in despair and appalled by the attack. An evening of prayer was called with various stakeholders and residents were encouraged to give input and interact,” said Ms Walton.
“Residents are saying ‘Enough is enough’, it’s time the streets and community life goes back to normality. We want our kids to be able to play in the streets and to enjoy just being kids. We want our residents to feel a sense of security and safety without fear of being robbed or attacked in the streets and in their homes. We want our young boys to go about their lives without fear of threats and intimidation. Today, we see our young boys and sometimes even girls as young as 13/14 being initiated into these groups(gangs). Groups who have no regard/or respect for life, young or old in the very communities they come from.
“The mindsets of residents need to change in the hope of making the community a place of safety for all. We call out to residents to step up, take your communities back, report crime, join up and form clusters of neighbourhood watches (to be the ears and eyes of your neighbourhood) be the change you want to see in your communities. It starts with you.”
Aaron Paul, a community activist, said pastors Waymond Daniels and Keith Peters, from the Eagle Life Apostolic House led the prayer meeting.
“The surprise for me was the involvement and messages the community members living in the area shared,” said Mr Paul.
Pastor Peters addressed the community. “Parents must change the way we rear our sons and not allow 13 year olds to run around with guns. We remember in our time, a 13 year old will be at home, at 8pm even if he is unhappy about it.”
After the meeting, a solution driven list circulated among the participants to tackle the the way forward.
“All the key characters of a social cohesive community and more have been addressed from a religious point of view, in our intervention last night, for example, more religion in community, ensure family values are instil, discipline and respect, no to drugs, no to gangsterism, we need our children to be allowed to be children and enjoy being children, more sport activities for our community to become fit and active, parents to take up their responsibility of being parents, allow our children to dream big for their future and study hard to make it a reality, community to care more and show it by getting involved with community activities, and more,” said Mr Paul.
Mr Paul said the discussion should be further extended to finding ways to, “monitor and keep each other accountable to ensure improvement in our community.”
One suggestion was to join or support the neighbourhood watch. “We need to agree on a plan of action for the way forward that we can measure progress,” said Mr Paul.
Leanne Reid, spokesperson for the Steenberg community police forum (CPF), said the CPF commend the efforts of the religious sector to unite the community following the incidents of violence.
“Morals and values instilled through spiritual guidance play an important role in our crime prevention strategy and we hope that over time they will garner more support at events like this.”
Police spokesperson Wesley Twigg confirmed the stabbing in 12th Avenue, Retreat, last Tuesday, February 20. “A 41-year-old man was declared deceased and two other adult males sustained stab wounds to their bodies. The motive for the attack is believed to be gang related. The suspects are yet to be arrested,” said Mr Twigg.
Steenberg police registered murder and assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm cases for investigation.
Steenberg SAPS station commander Colonel Johannes Nel condemned the murder and said they will use all resources to ensure that the community is safe and that the perpetrators of crime are brought to book.
Anyone with any information about these incidents can contact Lieutenant Colonel Murphy Papa on 082 469 2728 or Crime Stop on 08600 10111.
