Africa-Press – South-Africa. Hawston residents took to the streets this week to protest against the high levels of crime plaguing the Western Cape fishing village.
Locals say the area is being overrun by drugs with youngsters trapped in the vicious cycle of addiction, targeting and stealing from their own families.
On Monday hundreds of residents rallied together to peacefully march through the area to demand police clamp down on the illegal drug dens in the area.
Concerned residents marched with posters reading: “Hands off our children”, “enough is enough”, “stop drugs”, “stop the violence” and “real men don’t abuse women”.
Highlighting the most recent murder on Christmas Day, locals said the gruesome murder of 24-year-old Yusuf Isaacs, who was stabbed to death allegedly by a teenager, was the final straw.
Police spokesperson Captain Frederick van Wyk said Hermanus police were called out just after 05:00 to Crecy Way where they found Isaacs, who had sustained stab wounds. He was taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital for medical treatment.
“The victim was declared deceased at the hospital,” Van Wyk said, adding that Hermanus police were investigating a murder case.
Police said a 17 year old has since been arrested and charged with the murder.
Local resident, and also Member of Parliament, Maurencia Gillion said the area where she had grown up in had seen a noticeable increase in crime over recent years.
“Every day we are faced with house break-ins, drug abuse, and all kinds of social ills. What triggered us the most was the brutal murder on Christmas where a young man was murdered by another young man,” said Gillion.
“Drugs are a major concern in Hawston, we are losing our youngsters to drugs and it is extremely sad to see.”
Gillion said addicts stole from their own family members just to get their next fix, saying:
“We cannot have our people killing each other and then nothing gets done about it. Enough is enough, we will not stand and watch our community being destroyed by drugs. Criminals cannot think it’s okay to steal from us. We want police, the ward councilor, and law enforcement to help us bring peace back into the area because we are angry that our town is not safe anymore,” Gillion added.
South African Human Rights Commissioner Chris Nissen who attended the march said he was “devastated” at the recent events that took place in the town.
“We empathise with the residents of Hawston, this is not how people should be living. Everyone has the right to a decent living, no one should be living in fear in their community,” he stressed.
“We need justice to prevail. I marched in solidarity with the community, in the hopes that major changes will take place and that the crime in the area will be reduced,” he said.
Nissen vowed to return to the area once he had engaged all the relevant parties to try to bring about peace.
Both Nissen and Gillion urged disgruntled community members to work with the police to expose criminal activity in the area.
“We cannot allow illegal activities to rule our lives and the community. We must all work together with the police to bring about the changes we want to see,” Nissen said.
Angry residents said they were fed-up with crime that was claiming the lives of innocent people.
They handed over a memorandum to police and the local municipality demanding that urgent intervention be taken before the crime in the area got even more out of hand.
A resident said “an injury to one is an injury to all” while another stressed that it was time that the Hawston community stood together to stop crime in the area.
One local took to social media to highlight her concerns about crime in the area and wrote: “I take my hat off to the community of my born place. As a grandmother who went through the same ordeal eight years ago [when] my grandson was murdered my suggestion is [to] march on the drug lords’ [property]. Enough is enough, what’s happening out there is unacceptable.”
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