Mitchell’s Plain Community CPF says life is becoming “very cheap” on the Cape Flats

The Mitchell’s Plain Community Policing Forum (CPF) says life is becoming “very cheap” on the Cape Flats amid a surge in gang-related shootings that have claimed the lives of children.

Three children have been killed or wounded in recent weeks, two of them from the Mitchell’s Plain area.

The most recent incident saw a 4-year-old boy from Hanover Park fatally shot.

Residents say they try their best to keep their children safe, but with school and afternoon activities like soccer practice, parents can only do so much.

Mitchell’s plain CPF chairperson, Norman Jantjies, says guns are flooding communities and police need to tighten control.

“Most of the murders these days are taking place with firearms. But there just seems to be an abundance of firearms in our areas. But I think if we can manage the firearms, the prevalence of firearms, if we can manage that better, I think it's going to contribute towards safety in general.

Jantjies says gunmen now operate with no fear of being identified – or held accountable.

“o, when the shooters come, they obviously target certain individuals, but some of them are even drugged, and they don't really care whether there are going to be innocent people shot in the process, you know, they just shoot and they go.”