Week of Terror Against Children in Cape Town

GOOD Statement by Jonathan Cupido, GOOD City of Cape Town Councillor:

The GOOD Party is heartbroken and outraged by the week of unprecedented violence that has claimed the lives of several children and left others wounded across Cape Town. This wave of terror is a sickening contradiction to the national observance of the 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children.

In the space of one week, at least six children, aged between four and 16, were victims of brutal violence, including multiple murders and shootings.

To have six of our children brutalised in a single week, four of them murdered, at a time when we are meant to be amplifying the call to protect the vulnerable, is a moral collapse.

These are not just statistics; they are shattered futures, devastated families, and a damning indictment of the failure to safeguard our most precious citizens.

Summary of the Week of Violence

The reported cases include:

• A 9-year-old boy murdered during an attack on his home that also killed two other adults in Mitchells Plain.
• A 16-year-old gay teenager brutally raped, mutilated, and murdered in Khayelitsha (A 17-year-old has been arrested).
• A second 14-year-old girl shot and killed the following evening in Kensington.
• A 14-year-old girl wounded after a bullet struck her in the stomach in Manenberg.
• Two other children, 15, were shot and wounded in Cafda, Retreat and Eerste River.

GOOD Party’s Demand for Action

The recurrence of such horrific crimes, especially in areas like Mitchells Plain, Manenberg, and Kensington, demands an immediate and robust response.

The GOOD Party calls on law enforcement agencies and the NPA to:

1. Act Decisively: Ensure all perpetrators responsible for these heinous crimes are arrested swiftly and without fail.
2. Secure Convictions: Prioritise the effective prosecution of these cases to ensure that those responsible are held behind bars and removed from our communities.
3. Visible Policing: Increase the visible police presence and proactive intervention strategies in identified gang and violence hotspots to prevent further attacks on children.

The GOOD Pary further calls on all spheres of government to start prioritising funds towards the Social Development departments to ensure we start identifying the root causes of these actions and start putting programmes in place to deal with the social conditions of our communities.

The department will play an important role that will guide funding where most importantly needed to change the Socio-economic conditions of our communities that effectively will ensure a cohesive approach to minimise Crime.

Our children deserve to grow up safe, free from the daily terror of gun violence and predatory attacks.

If the 16 Days of Activism is to mean anything, it must translate into 365 days of action and accountability for those who harm women and children.

GOOD Youth Programs: GOOD has initiatives aimed at empowering young entrepreneurs.

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