An emotional Andrea Amos, sister of Mikhail, at the memorial service in Parkwood for her brother killed in a drive-by shooting last weekend.
- At least two families buried their loved ones on Tuesday, after the deceased were killed in separate shooting incidents recently.
- There have been several fatal shootings in areas on the Cape Flats in the last two weeks.
- There are concerns that a spike in gang-related activity is normalising violence after a lull during lockdown Levels 5 and 4.
As South Africa marked Youth Day on Tuesday, a large group of friends of Mikhail (Ballackie) Amos shouted his name as they walked through Parkwood to his memorial service.
The talented soccer player from Steenberg was killed in a drive-by shooting last weekend. He had been in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Earlier on Tuesday, there was another service, in Hillview, for three-year-old Liam Petersen – also in the wrong place at the wrong time, shot dead in the doorway of his parents’ tiny dwelling.
Just behind the door of this small dwelling in Hillview near Lavender Hill three-year-old Liam Petersen was killed.
On Monday, in Ravensmead, a three-year-old girl and her father were shot and killed. It was reported that they were sitting in a car when a gunman opened fire on them.
On a field in Lavender Hill, known commonly as “The Battlefield”, the lockdown had turned the former gang war zone into a place where hungry children gathered daily, getting their one meal of the day thanks to good Samaritans like Mark Nicholson.
He has been digging deep into his own pocket, and working hard to attract other donors to his cause, never failing to turn up to feed the hungry every day of the week.
On Wednesday, he was urging children to go straight home after getting their bakkie of food because it was too dangerous to be outside.
Killed
But children being children were seen playing on the field.
Just a half hour earlier, 29-year-old Cheslyn Sabonga was killed in his house just around the corner from a feeding scheme.
Rather than seeking safety, the crowd quickly grew as they watched the police and mortuary van arrive on the scene.
The upsurge in gang activity is normalising violence.
On “The Battlefield” in Lavender Hill on Wednesday, a group of girls, aged about seven, seemed unconcerned about seeking refuge from the shootings.
“It happens every day, uncle, every single day …I’m not scared,” said one.
Just a month ago, the Covid-19 pandemic was being credited for “gangland truces” on the Cape Flats.
But the killings continue and the children are used to it.
A Medical Research Council report shows that although there was a drop in “unnatural” deaths (murders and accidents) during the lockdown, the country has returned to its usual levels of deadly violence.
