At least 63 children have been murdered in the Western Cape in just five months, with gang violence named as the primary driver of the killings.

This was revealed during a police presentation to the Western Cape Legislature’s standing committee on social development on Tuesday.

Major-General Luyanda Damoyi presented statistics covering the period from April 1 to August 31.

The social development department head, Dr Robert Macdonald, shared broader data spanning 2022 to 2024.

“During the period April 1 to August 31, a total of 63 children were murdered in the Western Cape,” Damoyi said.

“These are operational stats, so during auditing, they might change. It hasn’t been released by the minister yet.”

He said children aged 15 to 17 accounted for 71% of the murders during the five months, while 11% were between 11 and 14 years old.

Eleven per cent were aged 0 to 5, and 6% were aged 6 to 10.

The worst-affected areas, according to Damoyi, included Kraaifontein, Philippi East, Delft, Nyanga, and Mfuleni, along with Samora Machel, Elsies River, Bishop Lavis, Ravensmead, and Gugulethu.

According to Damoyi, 22% of the murders were gang-related, with others linked to arguments, robberies, revenge, arson, and rape.

The motive in the 18 child murders is still under investigation.

Most of those victims were between 15 and 17 years old.

Macdonald presented longer-term data, revealing that 557 children aged between one day and 19 years were killed between 2022 and 2024.

Of these, 24 were infants aged between 1 and 27 days, 14 were aged 1 to 11 months, 31 were aged 1 to 4 years, 24 were aged 5 to 9 years, and 77 were between 10 and 14 years old.

Teenagers aged 15 to 19 made up the majority of victims, with 387 killings over the three years.

“If you look at the pattern, you’ll see that the majority of the murders are occurring in the 15 to 19-year age group,” said Macdonald.

“There is also an increase among children aged 10 to 14 compared to the younger age groups.

“This primarily points to the high incidence of gang violence and the involvement of teenagers in gang shootings and gang activity. The primary driver of child murders in the Western Cape is gang activity.”

He said before the Covid-19 pandemic, child murder figures were “actually slightly higher than they are now”.

“The increase over the past three years, starting from 2022, also reflects that year’s relatively lower numbers, which were in line with the general trend in crime statistics at the time,” he said.

“Crime rates were slightly lower coming out of the Covid-19 period, so this may skew the overall trend slightly.

“Overall, I would say that over the past ten years, we have not seen a rapid escalation in the child murder rate, but rather a stable plateau — which is still far too high.

“This trend also reflects the extremely difficult and deeply rooted gang situation in the Western Cape.

“The gangs are so institutionalised in some communities that government alone does not have the power, as you’ve noted, to dislodge their influence.”

Macdonald said many communities relied on gangs for basic needs.

“In many cases, community members turn to gangs to meet their policing needs, social support, and even employment opportunities.

“Gang culture is a deeply entrenched part of some communities.

“Children are under immense pressure to join gangs, as one of the other honourable members mentioned.

“It is extremely difficult for them to resist, not only because their personal safety often depends on gang affiliation, but also because they may have older family members already involved.

“There are family connections — gang members are in the home, in the family, and in the neighbourhood.

“From the perspective of social development, what we have seen is that many of these children need to be removed from their circumstances entirely. That is why we have been pushing to expand our facility space. If these children remain on the streets, they are going to die.

“We have even had magistrates threatening to imprison me personally if I cannot find a space for a child who is on a gang’s hit list and is at immediate risk of being killed if not placed urgently.”

MPL Memory Booysen urged religious leaders to join the fight by spreading a message of peace.

Committee chair MPL Wendy Philander said it was critical for all stakeholders to work together to end the violence.

After the sitting, social development MEC Jaco Londt said, despite severe pressure on the system, they were going above and beyond.

“The department has ensured that services are rendered to at-risk and vulnerable children,” he said.

“One area where there is a shortage of services is the level 3 facilities, where a waiting list of over 500 clients is.

“It is in the pipeline to expand the facilities, but due to budget constraints, it is unlikely to happen in the upcoming financial year.

“Linked to this will be the expansion of personnel to provide a service that meets the norms and standards.”

He said, despite budgetary constraints, the department was also always looking for innovative ways to improve services.

“Two tangible ways we have managed to do this in the child protection space are with our Social Work Integrated Management System application (SWIMS app), which is improving social workers’ case management processes.

“We have already got two designated child protection organisations on the app, and recently we trained social workers from the Western Cape education department.

“I am hopeful that through SWIMS, we will mitigate the risk of cases falling through the cracks and will strengthen referral pathways between departments and NGOs.

“The other way is with the department partnering with NGO Baphumelele to launch an Intermediate Child and Youth Care Centre in Philippi called Fountain of Hope.

“We will launch this on Friday in Philippi.

“This facility will address a gap that has hindered the full rehabilitation and reintegration of youth in our child protection system.”

Approached for comment, policing activist Patricia Mashale said: “I am concerned that children are caught in the crossfire of drug wars, and that the numbers are still rising.

“This is an indictment of our government, because our children are not safe in their own communities, and the government is doing absolutely nothing about it.

“I believe SA may be the only country where children are being killed by gangs on a daily basis — and this is being treated as normal by our lawmakers.

“The reality is that many children in the Western Cape will not live to become adults, because they are being killed while still in their teens.

“In any functional government, the army would have been deployed to these areas by now, because it is clear that the police have lost the battle against the gangs.”

IOL News

Source link