A community activist will be hosting an open dialogue this coming weekend for the violence-torn communities of Steenberg, Lavender Hill and Muizenberg to start the healing.
Lucinda Evans, the founder of Philisa Abafazi Bethu, says the talks will be a stepping stone in restoring the peace within the communities riddled with gang violence and drug addiction.
“We’ve lost our children through violence. Parents are also losing their children to gangsterism.
“There’s no platform for families to speak about their trauma and we’re reaching out to parents who are struggling,” Evans explains.
The focus will be solely on the victims, she says.
“We are very empathetic towards the victims. Everyone knows the whole history of the victim, but what about the parents struggling with children who’ve embraced gangsterism?”
She says both the parents of perpetrators and the families of victims will be speaking.
“We’ll be opening the floor for parents of gangsters, explaining what they go through being the parent of a gangster. This is the beginning of reconciliation.
“We don’t know if the parents of perpetrators are going to pitch, but we do want to know what they’re going through too,” Evans says.
She adds: “We have invited the provincial police commissioner and religious fraternities of Steenberg and Muizenberg. This will not be a once-off thing.
“We want this to be duplicated in other communities.”
If you would like to take part in the dialogue, it will be held on Sunday, 14 April, at Seawinds Multipurpose Centre at 2pm.