Members of the Westbury, Joburg community are living in fear following clashes between rival gangs that have claimed the lives of 2 people and left 13 others injured.
The community fears venturing out in the streets when it is dark and barricades themselves behind closed doors as sounds of gunfire echo on the streets especially over the weekends.
The gang-related killings in the Coloured community has been triggered by the murder of an alleged Fast Guns leader Keenan Sheldon Ebrahim who was shot in a suspected hit while travelling in a car in Constantia Kloof, Roodepoort last Thursday.
Rumour has it that Ebrahim was allegedly killed by rival gang members called the Varados.
It is alleged that the Varados and the Fast Guns have marked territories where they sell drugs and rival group members are not allowed to set foot in each other’s turf.
Residents who are brave to go out, could only speak on condition of anonymity.
One elderly man was sitting in the park enjoying the sunshine as if oblivious to the violence taking place in his community.
He said: “You never know who is going to get shot next. Even children cannot play outside any more due to the escalation of gang wars.
“Violence in Westbury affects everyone and every household, even kids are being affected by this. We are in a park now when they are playing here, anything can happen to them”.
The man said drug abuse and drugs introduced to children at a young age were some of the challenges faced by his community.
“Even kids are learning from this and it forces them out of school which is unfortunate and no parent would wish that on their children,” he said.
He also said he knew Ebrahim when he was growing up.
“He is the Newclare boy. I didn’t know him very well but I saw him coming up falling in the environment of drugs. I believe they (rival gang) were jealous of him, that’s why he was killed.”
A father of four said he feared for the future of his children. “To be honest with you, when it’s 18.30pm we go inside the house with my children and we don’t go out before it’s even getting dark. I don’t want to know who is shooting who. I won’t come out,” he said.
Another man said there were many lives lost unnecessarily and the numbers reported by police could be inaccurate.
The Gauteng Police Spokesperson Colonel Dimakatso Sello said the provincial police have mobilised extra resources to be deployed in Westbury and Newclare on a 24-hour basis to quell the violence.
These include members from the Provincial and District offices’ Crime Intelligence, Public Order Police, Technical Response Team, K9, Flying Squad Provincial Anti Gang unit (both Crime Prevention and Detectives), as well as members from the other four Districts (Tshwane, Ekurhuleni, West Rand and Sedibeng) and Johannesburg Metro Police.
“These extra forces have been deployed on a 24-hour basis to augment the operations that had already been in place to deal with gangsterism in Johannesburg District.
“A plea is made to the community of Westbury and surrounding areas to please work together with the police in ensuring that the perpetrators are arrested. Anyone with information that can assist with the investigation or arrest is requested to contact their nearest police station or the Crime Stop Line at 08600 10111. Anonymous tip-offs can also be reported on MySaps application which can be downloaded on any smartphone.”
