Gangsters as young as 9 turn Westbury into warzone

People in the Johannesburg suburb of Westbury say they are living in a war zone following Monday’s gang-related shooting, which resulted in the killing of an 18-year-old matric pupil from Coronationville Secondary School. His name has not been officially released yet.

Police say 13 people have been shot in six incidents and two people have died since Friday.

Sophiatown SA Police Service station commander Brigadier Bonginkosi Ndebele said: “We have 11 counts of attempted murder and so far, I have one arrested for attempted murder.”

Resident Octavia Hendricks said shootings in the area had escalated rapidly over the past three months.

ALSO READ: City Power pulls workers from volatile Westbury after Fast Guns gang boss gunned down

“The fear is on a high level; you can’t move around freely because you have to constantly look at the time. We need to be at school at least an hour before school comes out because we do not know what is going to happen,” she said.

“My daughter is in matric; she cannot go to school by herself and the school is just two minutes away from our house.

“I also do not send her to the shops anymore despite it being near our house. It’s better for me because I have a business so I can accompany my children to school, but what about the parents who … cannot do that.

“It is so difficult to live in this situation, especially because we do not know why they are shooting at each other. We are not part of their fight but we have all of a sudden become a part of it because we stay in the area.”

Firearms recovered in Westbury

Ndebele said so far this month, 12 unlicensed firearms had been recovered. The situation led to extra police resources being deployed to the area.

“The Anti-gang Unit is working with us, [as are] technical response team, Public Order Policing, the Johannesburg Metro Police Department and the detectives on the ground, including Crime Intelligence,” said Ndebele.

The police responded quickly after Monday’s shooting.

“It is not because I am trying to defend our members but they cannot be everywhere, like today’s incident, they were just around the corner and they were at the crime scene within minutes. We are following information the community is giving us,” he said.

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There were allegations the shootings in the area were sparked by the killing of alleged Fast Guns gang leader Keenen Sheldon Ebrahim, who was gunned down in an apparent hit west of Johannesburg last Thursday.

The killing left Westbury, Eldorado Park, Claremont, and Riverlea as no-go areas. Some residents, who requested anonymity due to safety concerns, alleged children as young as nine were being used by gangs for hits because they were more likely to be released back of their parents after killing someone. They said R300 was what the children were being paid to commit a murder.

Children used to do ‘dirty work’

“The biggest problem is that they use children to do their dirty work. They pay them with R20 or R10 notes amounting to R300 and the children think it is a lot of money.

“They are also intimidating principals in primary schools to get the children to join gangs from an early age,” said a resident.

Hendricks said parents were being forced to make their children live like prisoners in their homes.

“I have even told my daughter not to walk around with anyone. She grew up with these children but now I am forced to make her not walk with anyone or not visit anyone because I do not want her to be associated with anyone.”

Parents needed to take a stand against children in their homes who are gangsters, she said.

ALSO READ: Westbury community gatvol of gang shootings, camp outside cop shop

“At the end of the day we know our kids; we need to start with our kids. I cannot go to the next person’s house and say you have to reprimand your child.

“We need to start by fixing things in our homes and then we can go out to the community. If things are happening in my house [and] we keep quiet then we will not fix this.”

Another said the 18-year-old who was shot was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“They randomly shot at everyone who was there. I think they were looking for one of the gang members but they killed the wrong person. The boy that was killed was in matric and a very good boy who had nothing to do with gang violence,” she said.

“We are living in a war zone and following the killing of the Fast Guns leader; things are going to get worse because they will want to retaliate.”

– news@citizen.co.za