Three people were killed in Cape Town in separate shootings as a new spate of gang violence hit the city in spite of an intensified crackdown, police said on Saturday.
“In one shooting that took place late Friday night, gunmen stormed a matric ball dance at a school in the area of Mitchells Plain which has been haunted by gang violence,’’ police spokesperson, Captain FC Van Wyk, said.
According to Wyk, the victims are believed to be linked to local gangs.
In the second incident which also occurred on Friday, one person was shot dead in a drive-by shooting while dropping off a passenger at the matric ball of Rocklands High School, also in Mitchells Plain.
The shooting was also believed to be gang-related.
Some areas in Cape Town, the legislative capital of South Africa, have been ravaged by gang violence for a long time.
Every year, dozens of people are killed in gang violence, prompting local authorities to call on the national government to send army troops to quell gangs.
In November, President Cyril Ramaphosa launched an anti-gang unit in Cape Town to quell rising gang violence in the city.
The unit is part of a national strategy designed to address gangsterism in a holistic manner through a community-based approach with a focus on street-level outreach, community development, conflict mediation and changing community norms in order to reduce violence and criminality.
Other anti-gang units will also be rolled out in places where gangsterism exists, such as Gauteng and the Eastern Cape provinces. (Xinhua/NAN)
