The recent uptick in gang-related violence and shootings have left the residents of Westbury and surrounding areas in a crippling state of fear and paranoia.
According to reports, nearly a dozen people have been shot since Friday. The latest victim, a teenager, was shot and wounded on Monday. A day after, several others were reportedly shot in two other incidents.
Westbury community activist, Jefferson Alistair, told Salaamedia that the recent shootings are a worrying situation. However, it is something which has continuously transpired in the community.
Reports suggest the shootings are a retaliation after an alleged gang leader was gunned down in his vehicle last week. The incident occurred in the West of Johannesburg.
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A Fearful Community
Alistair said the community is as fearful as they have ever been. Though there are several reasons why the shootings have escalated recently, the primary concern for the community is the people who are often casualties of gang violence.
“It is a … Whole combination of all these aspects … It can be a turf war, it can be what we call a drug war, it can be a gang war. But then my worry is there are also so many innocent people that get shot. You are also a victim. The minute you step into Westbury, you can be a victim. I am as fearful as ever, and so is the rest of our community.”
He adds the issues in the coloured communities have not been prioritised by the government. Community issues such as drugs, gangsterism and joblessness. With the latter being a fundamental contributor to criminal activity in the area.
“One of the issues that we really have is unemployment in our communities … The fact that drug dealing has become one of these sources of income that our people now make because of the fact that [they are unemployed]. I’m not justifying the wrong that has been done by dealing drugs, but this has become one of the major problems right now.”
Ineffective Law Enforcement
Community residents have continuously expressed concerns about police competency and activity in the area. One resident has called for the deployment of the army.
Alistair said in recent months, the community has placed much pressure on the Sophiatown Police Station. In his experience, he has had noticeable improvements. However, the minute the pressure alleviated, the police returned to normal, leaving room for criminal activities to prevail again.
“The truth is, some of the people at Sophiatown don’t need to [and] don’t have to be there. They need to really leave. We’ve given a memorandum to [the] police station [and] all they tell you is that there’s certain things that’s impossible for them to do … We have asked for them to deploy more police, and there were more police deployed. But then we’ve also asked for them to do a search from house to house to make sure that all these guns are retrieved … To date, that hasn’t been done. We asked them before the situation became worse … Things weren’t as bad as what it is now because we made sure we had our eyes on the police. The minute, the day after we left, people started getting shot in the area, and it became worse.”
He adds even though it is essential for the authorities to lead the fight against drugs and gangsterism in the area, it is equally crucial for the residents to become active and take their community back.
“As activists, our lives are all in danger. I, at one stage, wanted to give up on the fight, fighting for our area, because it’s almost like you’re fighting yourself because you don’t do anything. We have [women] in our community [and] we have men in our community that is supposed to stand up for the wrong. It’s almost like they’re accommodating all these things. Because if I know for a fact that my son is doing the wrong thing, my son has an illegal firearm, and he’s hurting others, it does not make it right. So you as a parent have to stand up.”
