Rocklands community angered over lack of police action following death of 9-year-old
The fatal shooting of a nine-year-old boy in Rocklands, Mitchells Plain, has reignited anger over what civil rights group Action Society says is the state’s ongoing failure to protect vulnerable children in gang-affected communities.
Nine-year-old Zechariah was killed on Tuesday night when four masked gunmen stormed and surrounded a home before opening fire, also killing two young adults aged 25 and 30. Several others were injured. No arrests have been made.
Action Society, which will attend a memorial service in the community on Thursday, said the child’s death underscores the dire consequences of chronic police under-resourcing and slow investigations in the Western Cape.
“This brutal murder of a nine-year-old boy has again left an entire community in mourning,” the organisation said, adding that residents are being forced to grieve children who should still have been safe in their own homes.
The group said Rocklands, like many parts of Mitchells Plain, has suffered for years from “chronic shortages of detectives, visible policing and operational resources”.
“Criminals operate freely because they know the odds of arrest are low and investigations take far too long to complete,” the organisation said.
Action Society stressed that the national policing model is failing children most of all.
“A one size fits all management structure in Pretoria cannot solve local crime patterns,” the organisation said.
It argued that the Western Cape urgently needs “well resourced, locally accountable policing structures” that can respond quickly to community needs.
Kaylynn Palm, head of Action Society’s Action Centre in the Western Cape, said the killing of Zechariah should force the state to confront the consequences of its lack of action.
“A nine-year-old child has lost his life while the state continues to insist that the current policing model is sufficient. There have still been no arrests,” she said.
Palm called on SAPS to immediately prioritise the case.
“The police must treat this as an urgent priority and ensure that these gunmen are found and removed from the streets. If policing is not localised and resourced properly, these tragedies will continue.”
Action Society said it will continue to support the affected families and again urged national government to strengthen policing capacity in high-risk areas, warning that without urgent reform, more children will remain at risk.
IOL News