Mourning and marching: Petition to stop violence as child is buried
|Published
PRESENT: Bandiete walking the street in Manenberg. Picture: Armand Hough / African News Agency(ANA)
A few hours after the family of little Tiano Anthony laid him to rest on Sunday, angry and gatvol community members came out to share their frustrations about the ongoing gang violence in the area, especially during load shedding.
The residents plan to hand over a petition with more than 10 000 signatures to authorities by Wednesday, requesting load shedding to be suspended until the violence stops.
Manenberg Community Policing Forum chairperson Vanessa Adriaanse addressed the crowd gathered in Jordaan Road, sharing the community’s concerns with various stakeholders including SAPS, Correctional Services and Community Safety MEC Reagen Allen.
“We are not tired, we are verby tired. It is not normal that you have a bed but you must sleep on the floor,” said Adriaanse.
“It is not normal that we have to mourn the death of a nine-year-old child who was shot. It is not normal but in Manenberg it is.”
She said it appears gangsters also plan their shooting schedules around load shedding.
“This is exactly why we are asking for the suspension of load shedding, because it’s a dire need. These gangsters wait until it’s dark to shoot each other.
“SAPS, we know you are working hard, but we are requesting a quicker response time,” Adriaanse begged.
Resident Meagan Ohlson encouraged mense to stand together.
“We’re gonna take back our streets, we’re gonna stand on every hot spot and have an open-air church service. It’s time we pull up our socks and put our feet down,” the determined woman said.
Speaking after his funeral, Tiano’s aunty Michelle Malgas said even though the family is still very hurt by what happened, the community’s support lifts their spirits.
Malgas says the Nazareth Church was filled with mourners wanting to pay their last respects to the young boy.
“Die kerk was vol. People stood outside even though it was raining and the children sat on the floor in church.
“The message was about forgiveness. The pastors asked the family to have forgiveness in our hearts for what was done. All we want is justice for Tiano,” Malgas said.
Tiano, a Grade 3 learner at Easter Peak Primary school, was shot through the head earlier this month.
Police arrested Brandon Jacobs, and it is alleged that his gun went off while he was cleaning it inside the house in Towerkop Road and the bullet hit Tiano.
Jacobs, an alleged drug dealer, is currently out on bail and will appear in Athlone Magistrate’s court on 9 September.