The community of Cafda has been flagged as a volatile area and residents are living in fear because of almost daily shootings.
In one incident, a 45-year-old man was shot and killed at a barber shop in 12th Avenue at about 9.30am on Thursday March 21, the Human Rights Day public holiday. According to police, the man was found in a chair at the barbershop with a bullet wound to his head.
A source who did not want to be named out of fear told Southern Mail that shootings in the area have spiked and ongoing gang retaliation has been happening daily because of a shooting incident that occurred last month.
The shooting the source referred to is the case of a taxi driver who was shot and killed in his van on the corner of Retreat Road and 11th Avenue on Wednesday March 6 (“Taxi driver shot dead in Retreat”, Southern Mail, March 12).
Another shooting that occurred in Blagden Avenue on the same day is believed to be linked to the earlier shooting.
Steenberg police spokesperson Captain Richard Marcus confirmed that there have been daily, mostly sporadic, shootings in the area and confirmed that the 11th Avenue shooting triggered gang retaliation shootings.
“Cafda is volatile at the moment because shootings spiked after the taxi murder. Outside gangs are coming into the area to do drive-by shootings and there have been a few cases relating to that.”
Captain Marcus said the gun violence in Cafda, Steenberg and Lavender Hill is also caused by an ongoing drug turf war.
Organisations and the community have raised concerns because the shootings are occurring sporadically during the school holidays and fear for the safety of their children.
The situation in Cafda as well as Lavender Hill and Steenberg is tense, said Mark Rossouw Steenberg Community Police Forum (CPF) treasurer and spokesperson.
“The CPF condemns these indiscriminate shootings vehemently, as innocent bystanders and especially children are often caught by stray bullets in the crossfire, due to these undiscerning shootings. We have witnessed this happen too many times in the past not just in our precinct, but all over Cape Town, where so many innocent lives were lost.”
Community worker Dale Hendricks said the community is scared. “People don’t want to walk outside or have their children play outside; it’s a mess.”
CPF chairperson Gavin Walbrugh said the shootings have become worrying and has become worse over the past few weeks but witnesses refuse to come forward.
“It is extremely difficult to address the issue because people have information about the shootings but they don’t want to talk. People can report information anonymously but they refuse and we will continue to have this problem if they don’t come forward.”
Mr Hendricks said people are scared to mention names because they fear for their lives but said the shootings will continue if no one comes forward.
“We as the community are also to blame for the situation because we don’t take ownership of our area so gangsters feel they can continue what they’re doing.
“We have become so desensitised, somebody is shot today and it’s spoken about but then tomorrow everything is back to normal – until the next shooting. We don’t take action and ownership so we are to blame as well.”
Community worker Andre Rhoda said the Neighbourhood Watch suspended their walks because of the shootings.
“Our community, at the moment, is being held captive, they are divided and they are very scared and we don’t know the way forward because people are scared to come forward with information about incidents because that same information is leaked by the police and they’re lives are then in danger.”
Mr Rossouw said Steenberg police and the City of Cape Town’s law enforcement agencies have stepped up patrols in Cafda, Lavender Hill and Steenberg.
Captain Marcus confirmed that additional resources have been deployed and the Anti-gang Unit are investigating the cases.
