If President Cyril Ramaphosa has his way, parents who don’t make sure their kids are in school could be thrown into jail.
He was in Hanover Park on Friday to launch the police’s new anti-gang unit and said he would soon propose a law that would incriminate parents who compromised the future of their children by not forcing them to go to school.
“One of these days I am going to propose that we should have a law that parents who do not insist that their children must be in school will be committing a crime... because it is our responsibility as parents, particularly in a country where there is free education,” he said.
Ramaphosa said parents must insist and make sure their kids attend school.
“Because education, as Madiba said, is the only weapon that we have to get out of poverty, and education is also the only weapon we have to get out of gangsterism.”
Photo: Henk Kruger/ANA/African News Agency
Meanwhile, Police Minister Bheki Cele, who was also present at the launch, said the assassination of advocate Pete Mihalik last Tuesday was related to taxi violence and not gangsterism.
Mihalik was known to represent alleged gang bosses in court, but Cele said: “People should not be in a hurry to think this is gang-related.”
Two suspects, Sizwe Iyela and Nkosinathi Khumalo from KwaZulu-Natal are being kept at Sea Point Police station until their next court appearance this week.
Cele and Western Cape Premier Helen Zille accompanied Ramaphosa, who formally launched the Anti-gang unit (AGU) in an effort to disorganise and disable the criminal economy linked to gangsterism, including drug and firearm supply lines, on the Cape Flats.
The 95-member unit has been in operation since October and deployed in the Nyanga, Bonteheuwel and Bishop Lavis clusters.
ON THE JOB: Anti-Gang Unit on the Cape Flats. Photo: Henk Kruger/ANA/African News Agency
The unit has received about 50 brand-new high-performance vehicles and was launched soon after the death of Gift of the Givers volunteer Ameerodien Noordien, 20, who was killed in gang crossfire in the area last month.
Zille said while she welcomed the new unit, key questions remain unanswered.
“We have made consistent calls for the full reinstatement of Specialised Gang, Gun & Drug Units since their abolition in 2012,” she said.
“The drug floodgates opened in the wake of the disbandment of these units, with 36% of all drug-related crime and 83% of all gang-related murders taking place in the Western Cape, according to the latest crime stats.”
President Cyril Ramaphosa with Minister of Police Bheki Cele and Premier Helen Zille in Hanover Park. Photo: Henk Kruger/ANA/African News Agency
“What has become of the 2016 State of the Nation promise to re-introduce fully-fledged Gang, Gun and Drug Specialised Units?
“Are these 95 officers all we can expect in this regard?
“Will this unit be operationalised by robbing police personnel from one part of the province to deploy to another?”