Concerned citizens marched against the prevalence of gang violence within the Western Cape on Saturday.

In walking through the Klipfontein corridors, an area riddled with gang violence, the initiative sparked awareness within the Cape Town community that  gangesterism will no longer be tolerated.

The march that was organised by the #GangsterismMustfall Campaign included approximately 100 community members, 400 shy of the expected 500 turnout estimate.

VOC chatted with Roscoe Jacobs, convener of the #GangsterismMustfall Campaign who explained that it is suspected that the Cape Minstrels finals and the funeral of Jayden Smith, which took place on the same day as the march, had impacted the size for the march.

Despite the low turnout, march organisers proceeded as planned.

Jacobs stated that the two main objectives of the march was to “get our message across to government and to create awareness.”

“It is time for us as communities to come together and take a stand,” said Jacobs.

A memorandum was handed to a representative of the Mayors Office. Jacobs asserted that the memorandum will be forwarded to the Premiers Office and the Minister of Police.

Jacobs furthermore expressed disappointment that neither the Mayor nor the Minister of Police attended the march.

“We will be informing them [the Minister of Police] that they were not there,” Jacobs stated.

The #GangsterismMustfall movement by working with the ministry of police hopes to establish a task team that will assess the root cause of the problem that is perpetuating the presence of gangsterism within the Western Cape.

“We are in it for the long run!”, Jacobs vowed.

For information and to join the cause, visit #GangsterismMustFall at the following link:

https://www.facebook.com/events/1516945261951978/

VOC (Thakira Desai)