Two men were killed and Athlone police chief Colonel Junaid Alcock’s staff car was wrecked in a single day in Vygieskraal, where residents say they live in fear of warring gangs.
The body of a 25-year-old man with a bullet wound in his right arm and another in his back was found in Pearl Crescent on Sunday February 4, according to Athlone police spokeswoman Sergeant Zita Norman.
It was the same day Colonel Alcock visited the shanty town to talk to the community about crime in the area, but, according to Sergeant Norman, residents stoned his staff car, stole the battery, smashed the windows, pulled off a side mirror and dented the bonnet.
“A case of theft from a motor vehicle, theft out of a motor vehicle, and malicious damage to property has been opened,” she said.
Then, at 7pm, added Sergeant Norman, a 19-year-old man was stoned to death after a fight broke out between Vygieskraal shack dwellers and those living in the area’s state-subsidised brick houses.
Police have opened murder cases in connection with the killings, but no arrests have been made.
Mischka Chachu, who lives in the shanty town, said gang violence had torn the community apart and residents feared being shot when going to an outside toilet or to fetch water. (“Call to quell violent crime in Vygieskraal,“ Athlone News, February 7)
“Athlone police has done nothing to help us,” she said, accusing the police of being absent when the worst of the violence flared up.
“I’ve been here for 20 years, and it has gotten worse. Our young children are dying, and it is all gang-related. We can’t live like this. We are waiting for houses. promises have been made, and there is a process, I know, but it is taking so long. Over the last two years, it has gotten so bad here.”
Sheilan Holsted, 30, said children were traumatised by the daily gang violence.
“I just wish that everyone could get houses so that we can get out of here. It is not safe for our children; they can’t even play outside and enjoy themselves because of the shooting, and then they must run. We need help.”
Referring to the death of the 19-year-old, resident Elizabeth Williams, 60, said: “How can you kill someone so brutally? Do they have no feelings? This place has changed so much. I was here when there was just bushes and no houses, and you could see and walk to Klipfontein Road. Now you will get robbed, killed and raped if you walk around.”
A woman, who did not want to be named out of fear for her safety, lives in a shack riddled with small holes made, she said, by bullets.
She had previously been shot by a gangster, but the case had not been investigated and she had had to close her spaza shop because it had been robbed so often, she said.
The woman said that on the day of the killings, shots had been fired at her shack, her bakkie’s windscreen had been smashed and a man had put a gun to her head.
“I went outside, and they put a gun to my head. I asked them why are they doing this? Maybe because I complain every time they want to get me down. I went to the police station, but nothing has happened; no pictures were taken of the damages to my shack or my bakkie.
“Once they were shooting at my shack and my son was standing right there, look at all these bullet holes,” she said, pointing to holes in the metal sheeting. “They even tried to take the zinc sheets off and come inside.
“Shooting is part of our daily lives, and there is no help at all.”
Sergeant Norman said the police had met with the community to hear their concerns and increased visibility in the area. They were prepared to help the community but residents needed to play their part by identifying the shooters.
“The community can give us tips anonymously,” she said.