Residents who are gatvol of crime, gangs and other social ills in Belhar took their own initiative and marched around their community in the name of peace.
Community leader Ricardo Swano says he shared his idea for a peace march on Facebook and it received a positive response.
So on Sunday, about 200 residents including children held placards and walked through their neighbourhood, joined by the Wikkel marching band.
The Belhar resident says it was purely a community initiative.
“We are not affiliated with any organisation, this is just an initiative of the residents.
“I just put out a Facebook post and the response was quite overwhelming.
“I went to the police station and applied for the march and we put everything together.
“We had the peace march because our community faces drug abuse, gender based violence and gangsterism.
“In the last two months, we saw an escalation in all of those kinds of social ills,” he explains.
“As an activist I decided that we need to do something and that is when the idea of the peace march came.”
In April, a disabled homeowner was shot and killed in a driveway in Curie Street.
The victim, 48-year-old Abraham Wingrove, allegedly died at the hands of assailants who wanted to extort his tenants who operated a spaza shop from his garage.
Ricardo tells the Daily Voice that he wanted to create awareness about crime issues within the community in the hopes that more people will speak out, lay charges with police and also piemp the perpetrators.
“The march was also to ask the community not to stand still and sit back but to say something like go to the police station and our ward councillors and tell them who the shooters are.
“The problem that we are facing is that people know who the shooters are, but they are also afraid of speaking out. If we stand together and in solidarity, we can make a difference.”
SAPS’ Captain Agulhas, who was also part of the demonstration, says she hopes that they made an impact.
She urged residents to start trusting police and report those who harm innocent people: “We hope and trust that all this crime in the community will come to an end.
“We also pray that the people will help prevent crime.”
mandilakhe.tshwete@inl.co.za