Cape Flats Safety Forum wants govt probe into high number of child victims of gun violence

CAPE TOWN - With the 16 Days of Activism Against Violence on Women and Children campaign starting on Monday, the Cape Flats Safety Forum has called on government to probe the high rate of children being killed in shootings and stabbings in the Western Cape.

The Western Cape Health Department said that 79 children were killed in the province between September and November this year.

Cape Flats Safety Forum chairperson, Abie Isaacs, has called for action, saying the numbers were alarming.

"We are concerned that once again there seems to be an increase in terms of children that become victims to crimes, specifically to gun violence. We call on the authorities to step up their game and we further call on a special probe to deal with gun violence specifically in and around the Western Cape."

Isaacs said that gangs were increasingly recruiting children on the Cape Flats and government should be doing more to offer children alternatives to gangsterism and crime.