Cape Town mothers say they fear for the safety of their children to go to extreme measures like doing random drug tests or checking whether they have any tattoos to prevent them from becoming targets for gangsters.
However, mother Jasmine Johannes says her son died at the hands of gangs despite not being involved in any criminal activities.
The mother of three says 6 April is a day that will always haunt her.
And Thursday 6 April will mark a year since she witnessed how her 17-year-old son Sayed was brutally shot and killed in front of her eyes.
A callous act no parent should have to witness.
Johannes says: “My son and I were walking to go and pick up a parcel. He was on his bicycle and I was walking. I saw a car and I told him to make way for the car. We both gave way. Then two guys got out of the car and they just walked up to him and started shooting him.
“I shouted my son is not a gangster, why are you shooting him? They didn’t say a word. They shot him in the back. They got into the car and drove off as if nothing happened.”
The mother says almost a year later, she is still left with more questions than answers.
“I asked myself, what did my son do wrong? My son wasn’t a gangster, he was playing soccer. He was always helping people in the community.”
Johannes says she always warned her children about the dangers of society.
“One night I took off both my son’s clothes to see if they have any tattoos. I always had a rule, if you want to be a gangster, come tell me and I will kill you myself. I don’t want gangsters to kill you.”
Maritha Langeveldt, Mitchell’s Plain mother of three, says she does random drug tests with her two eldest children.
“I am a paranoid parent like most parents in this modern day and age. I attended a women’s conference a few years ago, where a woman spoke and she explained that she was from a crime-ridden area. For her to always monitor her kids (her sons were 24 and 27 years old at the time) she bought drug tests as part of her shopping list. She didn’t want any surprises from them.”
Langeveldt adds: “That stood out for me because I thought that is the only way that we (as parents) are going to win in this life. If you are ignorant or in denial you won’t know what your kids are doing.
Langeveldt says desperate times call for desperate measures.
“I do a random pregnancy test and a drug test with my kids because I tell them they have their whole lives ahead of them and shouldn’t mess it up. I am not encouraging my daughter to have sex. But as parents, we need to be awake. It’s scary times our children are living in. I also tell my kids, they might not know what their friends are doing and they might try to spike their drink without them knowing. We want our kids to achieve their dreams.”
The crime stats for the third quarter are a stark reminder of the ongoing crime faced by South Africans daily.
The crime statistics for 1 October 2022 to 31 December 2022, show that there were 1 198 murders recorded in the Western Cape.
This is 142 (13,4%) more cases when compared to the same period of the previous year.
Last week, Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis expressed his concern that no changes were made to the police and justice ministries in president Cyril Ramaphosa’s cabinet reshuffle.
Hill-Lewis this is worrying given the “ongoing failure to properly resource police” and prosecutors to gain convictions.
He says the City of Cape Town has to date received no response to ongoing requests to devolve more policing powers to the metro’s municipal law enforcement.
Hill-Lewis says devolving more policing powers to “well-trained municipal law enforcement officers” is an immediate way to help police fight crime, given that 71% of police stations in the city are under-resourced.
“Our officers are already out there taking guns and drugs off the streets daily, but with more policing powers they can build prosecution-ready case dockets and gain convictions and bring lasting change for residents living in daily fear of violent crime. We believe there is both a constitutional case and a human case to devolve more policing powers to local government.”
He adds: “The Justice Minister simply needs to issue a declaration – as already done in 2018 – conferring more policing powers to municipal law enforcement under the Criminal Procedure Act. This can be followed up with an amendment to the Police Act.”
