We can overcome the gang violence that is pillaging Nelson Mandela Bay

15 May 2016

Note to Editors: The following remarks were made today by the DA Leader, Mmusi Maimane MP, in Helenvale, Nelson Mandela Bay. Maimane was joined by the DA’s Mayoral Candidate for Nelson Mandela Bay, Athol Trollip.  

Today I had the heart-breaking experience of visiting the family and loved ones of Caydene Ruiters, a two year old resident of Helenvale who tragically lost her life to gang related violence in December last year.

Davidene Ruiters, and her partner, Ricardo, lost young Caydene just two weeks before Christmas, when she was caught in the crossfire of rival gang warfare, right outside her parents yard where she regularly played.

As a parent of two young children, I cannot begin to imagine what it would be like to lose a child to such a senseless and preventable tragedy. Today we stand in solidarity with the Ruiters family, and with all those who have suffered loss due to gang related violence.

Fellow Democrats, I say this with confidence and assurance - we can and we will defeat the scourge of gangsterism and gang related violence in our cities and in our communities. But this will take every single one of us playing our part.

Gangsterism and gang related violence truly does affect us all.

It affects the parents of children that are caught in crossfire while enjoying the innocence of their youth playing on the streets.

It affects young people who, out of desperation, are dragged into gangsterism and drug addiction, which ends up destroying their lives and robbing them of their potential and their destiny.

It affects the parents and the families of both victims and offenders. Just as Caydene’s mother did not wish for her daughter to be taken at such an early age and in such a tragic fashion, I am quite sure that the mother of the implicated gangster who shot that fatal bullet also did not dream her son would one day be engulfed in a life of danger, drugs and despair, and ultimately behind bars.

The ripple effect of gangsterism and the damage it causes is felt throughout our communities. And its effects are more serious that we care to admit.

Gangsters and gang lords think they are above the law, and that the law doesn’t apply to them. Members of rival gangs use our streets to settle their scores, with no regard for who gets hurt

The vicious and interlinked cycle of unemployment, poverty, desperation, drugs, gangsterism and violence robs South Africans of true freedom. It is this cycle we must break, once and for all.

I am told that just this past Thursday, Mr Naeem Desai, a prominent businessman here in Nelson Mandela Bay, was shot execution style in a gang related murder in Gelvandale, while delivering bread to a spaza shop.

Mr Desai was a founding member of the Malabar Patrols community policing forum, a CPF that did outstanding work in fighting crime and keeping the community safe.

Unfortunately, Mr Desai’s involvement in community crime prevention was seen as a major threat to the modus operandi of certain gangs in the area.

There are many more tragic stories of gang warfare that routinely occurs here in Port Elizabeth’s northern areas.

Democrats, true freedom includes the right to live and move about in your own neighbourhood without fear. Residents are not even safe in their own homes, and in their own streets. 80% of Nelson Mandela Bay residents are too afraid to go out at night due to spiralling levels of crime - the highest of any Metro in the country.

And yet, despite this, there exists absolutely no real preventative or combat strategy in place in Nelson Mandela Bay, nor anywhere else in the country.

Over 10 years ago, the ANC in national government decided to disband the police’s specialised anti-drug and gang units. This is when they finally admitted to communities like yours that they simply don’t care about defeating gangsterism and gang related violence.

Since then, drug-related crime has shot up nationally by almost 200%. Criminals now see these communities, these neighbourhoods, these streets as their own territories.

They fight over their turf with their rivals and they don’t mind who gets caught in the crossfire.

If the ANC cared at all, it would have brought back the anti-drugs and gang unit a long, long time ago.

But they haven’t. For the better part of 12 years the ANC government has stood back and watched gangsters run amok, doing as they please.

It’s quite clear that for the ANC, the safety of your streets, your schools and your children is right at the bottom of the priority list.

When the DA takes occupation of the Union Buildings, one of the very first thing’s we will do is re-establish the specialised units that will flush out the gangsters, close the drug dens and give you back your streets.

Fellow South Africans, gangsterism is not a unique feature of Nelson Mandela Bay. Where we govern in the City of Cape Town, we have had the same problem with drugs and gangsterism. Gang membership of a gang in the townships across the Cape Flats is a feature of many lives.

But where the DA governs, despite national government’s indifference to gangsterism and gang violence, we have taken significant action.

Where we govern, we have started our own specialised units. We have started our own dedicated law enforcement agencies, even though sometimes it is not in our mandate to do so. We know that it’s the right thing to do, we know that this is what our communities need to fight crime.

We’ve established a dedicated Gang Unit in the Cape Town Metro Police. These specially trained metro police officers were selected to focus solely on combating drug dealing and gangsterism on the Cape Flats.

They identify gangs and drug hot spots, gather intelligence on the gangs and drug dealers, and increase the number of road-blocks aimed at crippling gangs and drug networks.

We are also piloting the School Resource Officer programme. Ten officers were appointed to seven schools identified as pilot sites in 2012. This programme was expanded last September with the addition of 60 more officers in response to gang violence at more schools.

Make no mistake, we will crack down on gangsterism at local government level, and we will ensure a safer city when elected on 3 August 2016.

With Athol Trollip as mayor, we will turn the tide on gangsterism and crime in Nelson Mandela Bay. We will see the establishment of a well-equipped metro police headquarters, comprehensive combat, defence and firearm training, and proper vehicle and equipment procurement and branding.

Danny Jordaan thinks that this city’s new “metro police” - his poorly executed electioneering strategy – is going to trick residents into believing its cares for its residents.

In Nelson Mandela Bay, the local ANC government has for 10 years broken its promises to protect our vulnerable communities with a Metro Police Force. Instead, a Metro Police Chief continues to earn over R1 million a year without a single officer on the beat until just a couple of days ago. How convenient.

The ANC has stood back for 12 years and watched gangsterism ravage our cities and compromise the quality of life for all residents, and now the ANC expects the launch of a phony metro police three months before an election to be the saving grace.

Friday’s launch did not deliver a metro police force, but put metro security and traffic enforcement personnel into metro police uniforms and masqueraded them as “metro police”. Opportunistic and irresponsible by Danny Jordaan and his ANC government.

Democrats, the people of Nelson Mandela Bay deserve better. They deserve a government with a proven track record of fighting crime and gangsterism – long before elections made it convenient to do so.

Together, we can change our communities for the better. Together, we can fight gangsterism in Nelson Mandela Bay and make this a safer, prosperous city!

I thank you

Issued by the DA, 15 May 2016