ActionSA Supports Mothers Chained to the Gates of Parliament in Protest Against Gang Violence
Press Statement by Dereleen James MP
ActionSA Member of Parliament
ActionSA supports the community of Overcome Heights, where mothers have chained themselves to the gates of Parliament, calling on the President to finally act and backing ActionSA’s request that he declare a state of emergency on the Cape Flats, where the bloodshed has reached a point of no return.
Standing chained to the gates of Parliament, these community members, led by mothers and their children, have rightly decried the bloodshed in their community, where the daily sound of gunfire, near-daily deaths, and the inability of children to attend school have created a state of terror that now defines life on the Cape Flats.
ActionSA believes that their testimonies represent the plight of innocent citizens living under siege from gang violence, violence that continues to claim innocent lives and has forced communities to live in unimaginable fear, unable to walk freely in their own streets.
It is precisely for this reason that ActionSA wrote to the President and personally handed him a letter last week on behalf of the desperate residents of the Cape Flats, calling on him to finally act and declare a state of emergency. This would allow the necessary resources and operational capacity to deliver a decisive blow to the gangs and bring an end to the bloodshed that is costing innocent lives every day.
ActionSA has also written to the Provincial Police Commissioner, Lieutenant General Thembisile Patekile, urging him to urgently prioritise increased visible policing capacity and to strengthen anti-gang operations in the community. We have further asked him, given how overstretched the police are and the absence of any discernible plan to end the scourge of gang violence, whether he will support our call for the declaration of a state of emergency.
ActionSA sees no other avenue than such a declaration, which would finally provide the resources and reinforcements required to bring an end to the violence that is destroying our communities.
ActionSA Supports Mothers Chained to the Gates of Parliament in Protest Against Gang Violence
ActionSA supports the community of Overcome Heights, where mothers have chained themselves to the gates of Parliament, calling on the President to finally act and backing ActionSA’s request that he declare a state of emergency on the Cape Flats, where the bloodshed has reached a point of no return.
Standing chained to the gates of Parliament, these community members, led by mothers and their children, have rightly decried the bloodshed in their community, where the daily sound of gunfire, near-daily deaths, and the inability of children to attend school have created a state of terror that now defines life on the Cape Flats.
ActionSA believes that their testimonies represent the plight of innocent citizens living under siege from gang violence, violence that continues to claim innocent lives and has forced communities to live in unimaginable fear, unable to walk freely in their own streets.
It is precisely for this reason that ActionSA wrote to the President and personally handed him a letter last week on behalf of the desperate residents of the Cape Flats, calling on him to finally act and declare a state of emergency. This would allow the necessary resources and operational capacity to deliver a decisive blow to the gangs and bring an end to the bloodshed that is costing innocent lives every day.
ActionSA has also written to the Provincial Police Commissioner, Lieutenant General Thembisile Patekile, urging him to urgently prioritise increased visible policing capacity and to strengthen anti-gang operations in the community. We have further asked him, given how overstretched the police are and the absence of any discernible plan to end the scourge of gang violence, whether he will support our call for the declaration of a state of emergency.
ActionSA sees no other avenue than such a declaration, which would finally provide the resources and reinforcements required to bring an end to the violence that is destroying our communities.