Wentworth in Durban has become a war zone with the sound of gunfire and random shootings a daily occurrence.
Fearful residents lamented that they were at the mercy of trigger happy and brazen criminal gangs.
For pupils, going and returning from school has become a deadly journey. On Tuesday, a 17-year-old matric pupil at Wentworth Secondary did not make it back home after attending extra classes when he was gunned down in broad daylight and died instantly.
Last week, a fourteen-year-old pupil was killed while playing with her friends at a public park in the area.
Luke Thomas also has a story of his own, saying he narrowly escaped death when a stray bullet hit his neck and got lodged inside.
“The bullet pierced through my window, and it hit my neck. I remember screaming for the kids to hide. The community is helpless, we are left to suffer and die on our own,” Thomas told Sunday World.
He pointed out that more worryingly was that some pupils were arming themselves because criminal gangs were recruiting them as drug dealers.
“I’m talking about fifteen-year-olds who are arming themselves with knives and guns. The conditions within the community forces them to join the gangs for safety and to appear relevant among their peers,” he explained.
Prominent violence researcher and retired academic Prof Mary de Haas said inept policing and poor intelligence on the ground fuelled gang violence and proliferation of drugs.
“Poor policing and intelligence capability on the ground fuels gangsterism and murder. Unless government gets these basics right, it will never win the war,” she said.
Desmond D’sa, a community activist who has long waged a relentless fight against gangsterism explained that the
Wentworth problem was known, but there was no political will to face it head on.
For more education news from Sunday World, click here.
Follow @SundayWorldZA on Twitter and @sundayworldza on Instagram, or like our Facebook Page, Sunday World, by clicking here for the latest breaking news in South Africa.
