RAISING HELL - Parents aren’t helping the Cape’s gang problem by encouraging klipgooi kids

I WAS watching a documentary on gangs in Cape Town the other day. 

In it, the interviewer asked this one guy something to the effect of whether he has killed a person before. 

The ou looked at the guy doing the interview as if he was versin, with one of his brasse later explaining that they chop off the heads of their murder victims. 

Asked how he’d kill his victims, the original outjie unzipped his tracksuit top and pulled out ‘n lang panga. Thing is, you’d never know it was even in his possession until he pulls it out to use it. Cunning.  

The interviewer then asked one of the ouens if he had any remorse for his victims. He wysed reguit that THAT is why he smokes drugs - it gives him the courage to do these things and not to think about it. If it’s not clear, it gives him the courage to kill and not feel bad about it.

My wind was uit. 

Sommer netso, as if taking a human life is nothing. Unfortunately, that is the mentality of these killers. 

And that’s why I’m so perplexed by parents egging on their kids to throw stones at other kids in the neighbourhood - allegedly because of a drug turf war. 

If you were born under a rock and don’t know what I’m talking about, just read the Daily Voice’s story about the Street Fighters, published on 20 January 2026. 

The story explained that “a video doing the rounds on social media was captured in Tafelsig and shows a large group of children throwing stones, while small children and adults stand around cheering, with some even joining in”.

The story further explained that some of the kids throwing stones grew up together and are even family. They reportedly belonged to the same gang, but when the gang broke up, they started fighting each other over DRUG turf. Let me be clear on this; om 'n ander man ryk te maak.  

Sorry aunty or uncle [insert name here], but you can’t support or condition your child for thug life like that and then expect him to lead a full, successful life. 

I know your laaitie is your laaitie, but as parents we have to reach a point where we say ‘enough is enough’, I will not allow the enemy to control the life of my child any longer. 

The words in John 10:10 in the Bible ring true whether you’re religious or not. It says: “The enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy…” 

No parent should see his or her child die before them, yet we see it so often in our world - nowhere more painfully than on the Cape Flats where gun violence continues to kill our children. 

I say, let’s draw a line and collectively say that we will not allow the enemy to steal our joy, kill our children and destroy our lives. 

I know life is tough, but please you don’t want any of those heartless thugs plukking uit his panga to bring an end to your child’s life. 

It might be stone-throwing today, but in the words of the Tafelsig Neighbourhood Watch chairperson Vernon Fortune: “Stone-throwing seems to be the new thing on the Cape Flats, it starts with stone-throwing then it escalates to knives then shooting.” 

On the same level is the disregard for police officers, who are called to protect our communities and our children in times of need. 

As Public Relations Officer for the Mitchells Plain Community Police Forum Linda Jones put it: “Previously SAPS vehicles were stoned then they needed that same van to come when they were in trouble.” 

We can do better than this mense. 

Let’s not wait until we see our children in coffins and they are lowered into the ground before we think of the consequences of these decisions. 

Let’s stand together now and change the narrative. 

We’ll need the buy-in from those on the ground for this to work. 

It starts with you, Duds just the way it is.