Members of the community, under the leadership of the African National Congress (ANC), South African Communist Party (SACP), Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and South African National Civic Organisation (Sanco) submitted a memorandum on September 19 to the Etwatwa Police Station, with the aim of reclaiming their streets.
In the memorandum, residents call for a stop to women and child abuse, gangsterism, substance abuse, police killings and illegal mining.
This took place after three boys were burnt to death the previous weekend, while a fourth survived an attempted necklacing on Thursday.
Community members suspected the youngsters of being part of a local gang called One Vision Lover (OVL).
It is believed the gang has been terrorising residents in the area.
According to the Benoni SAPS’s acting cluster commander, Brig Poobalan Subbiah, there have been no further attacks since the community’s march on Saturday.
“Police will continue to monitor the area,” he added.
So far, no one has been charged with the deaths of the three teenagers or for the attempted necklacing.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) said they will continue to call on the national SAPS leadership to reintroduce specialised gang units.
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