Dozens of community crime fighters and residents sang: “We will move forward though they shoot us” and urged residents to report crime as they marched from Khwezi to Makhaza Police Station in Khayelitsha on Saturday. Others marched from Strand, Lwandle, Somerset West and Nomzamo to the same police station, where they all gathered.

Phindile George, secretary of Khayelitsha Community Policing Forum (CPF), said a sub-district of the policing forum that includes the four police stations in – Macassar, Strand, Somerset, Lwande and Gordons’ Bay – organised the march. The sub-district is among the top 30 crime hotspots nationally. George said the aim of the march was to “silence the guns”.

“We are encouraging residents to report crime, illegal guns and criminals to the police. Paramedics, municipal workers, officials from the Department of Social Services, can’t work in Khayelitsha without an escort because of gun-toting criminals. The only way to silence the guns is for the police to confiscate them. But residents must first report those who own them illegally,” he said.

George said that while there are certain hotspots in Khayelitsha, the whole township is plagued by crime. “Ngwalaza Street is a hijacking hotspot. Shooting incidents happen frequently in Green Point, Site B and Site C. The whole Khayelitsha is a crime hotspot,” he said. The township is like others engulfed by brutal protection rackets that affects small and medium sized businesses in the township.

Justin Kunlehm, the spokesperson for the community police forums at the provincial level said Khayelitsha residents will not win the war against gang violence and extortion gangs if they don’t hand information to the police. “Khayelitsha has a big extortion problem. There have been various breakthroughs as reported in the media from the provincial extortion task team. They are doing a good job, but they must still crack down more,’’ said Kunlehm.

“Shops have to pay protection fees. Taxis from others industries have to pay to various taxi organisations in order to drive in the area. Building companies have to pay a protection fee. They can’t build in our areas,” he said.

Zukiswa Dziba, secretary of the South African National Civics Organisation (Sanco) in B section, said she joined the march because she is “tired of crime”. “My niece was holding her phone the other day and a criminal came out of his white bakkie and grabbed it. Our kids are not safe,” she said.

Dziba said she wants the police to be “more visible in big areas such as B section and conduct search and seizure operations”. “It’s unacceptable that the police are not visible in areas as big as B section. Even the CPF finds it difficult to patrol unarmed in B section,” she said.

A member of Green Point Neighbourhood Watch, who asked not to be named, said: “Thugs sell drugs to kids. They shoot at each other while we patrol. We are not safe. We want the police to remove guns from our areas.”

Funeka Soldaat, acting chairperson of Khayelitsha Sub-district Policing Forum, said: “Our aim is to remove guns from people who are not supposed to own them. Sixty percent of crime in Khayelitsha involves guns.”

Criminals thrive in Khayelitsha because residents don’t report them to the police, Soldaat said: “Residents don’t do their bit and report crime, otherwise the crime rate would not be this high.”

Siyabonga Makhawula, chairperson of Lwandle Community Policing Forum, asked the neighbourhood watches and CPF members to be “strong”. Murder, house-breaking and extortion are the most common crimes in Lwandle, he said: “Thugs used to rob Somali shops only, but now they rob even salon owners who operate their businesses in shipping containers.”

‘’Residents are scared to come forward with information because they are afraid of being the targets of criminals,’’ he said.

Brigadier Mnoneleli Magobiyane, Khayelitsha sub-district commissioner, said: “We would sleep peacefully if there were no guns.” He promised to protect members of Khayelitsha CPF from criminals. “Some police look down on CPF members. The police must not drive past them without saluting,” said Brigadier Magobiyane. “CPF members need support. The police must stop and ask how they can help them.”

A ‘declaration’ handed to Brigadier Magobiyane says Khayelitsha CPF commits to helping the cops remove the guns that “violently takes away the lives of breadwinners on their way to work”. The CPF further commits to “establishing people-centred community groups” to prevent youths from joining gangs.