BACKGROUND

And context

   
We firmly believe that the violence meted out by gangs and police alike have no place in a modern democracy. Our people have suffered enough and the efforts of our community police forums have only seen that the police have not taken our proposals to protect our communities seriously. The community goodwill to help and support the police do their jobs have instead been met with ridicule, laziness and unprofessional conduct of police officers. We believe that in order for the communities to receive professional safety services across the province in all communities, something drastic must change in the structure, attitude and ethos of the police. 
This is against the background of violent gang-fights that have erupted across the urban areas of Cape Town and the rural areas of the province. Gangs are responsible for about 79.1% of murders across areas such as Ravensmead, Bishop Lavis and Steenberg. Nyanga and Guguletu has seen an increase of murders in their areas as a result of gang violence. In total gangs have been responsible for 19.1% or 639 murders across the Cape Flats. The recent war between bouncers in Cape Town nightclubs has shown that the gangs has penetrated the urban areas of the inner city and now affects all of Cape Town’s nightlife. Most of the communities in the Southern and Northern Parts of the City are now affected by gang violence and armed, organised gangs.
A state of undeclared war has existed in the Hanover Park area for the last one and half years.
Rural communities such as Worcester, Oudtshoorn, Saldanha Bay, George, and New Orleans in Paarl and Cloetesville in Stellenbosch have all been on the receiving end of violent gang attacks.
Over the years on the Cape Flats, there have been period of intense wars between rival gangs who have branches in the affected communities. Many of our people have died and have been injured as a result. There have been a number of gang fights over a twenty-year period on the Cape Flats which has left many communities in disarray. The gang fights that have started in 2017 have seen the vast majority of communities affected by the violence and have caused major trauma to children, parents and communities.
Gang fights have spiked, migrated from community to community; depending on which gangs are fighting; or worst of all; involved multiple gangs in multiple settings and communities, as is the corruption exercised by police officers