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IOL News
7 days ago
- Politics
- IOL News
Faith and civic leaders unite to confront Cape Flats gun violence crisis
Faith leaders and activists pledge to reclaim streets from gang violence, led by moral regeneration and grassroots organising. Image: Mandilakhe Tshwete In response to a deadly surge of shootings across Cape Town, interfaith leaders and civic organisations have vowed to lead a grassroots moral and structural regeneration campaign to address what they describe as a 'constitutional, moral and humanitarian emergency'. The gathering, convened by the Muslim Judicial Council (MJC), the Cape Crime Crisis Coalition (CCCC), the Western Cape Council of Churches (WCCC), and other civil society partners, followed a wave of gun violence that left numerous people dead in recent weeks. MJC President Sheikh Riad Fataar said the gathering was prompted by the deteriorating security crisis across the Cape Flats and broader Western Cape. 'In line with our earlier statement on 7 July, where we condemned the proliferation of organised criminal activity, the circulation of illicit arms and drugs, and the resultant violation of constitutional rights to life, security and dignity, the MJC has now engaged directly with state authorities in an urgent bid to arrest the deepening spiral of social decay,' Fataar said. He confirmed that a high-level engagement was held at the MJC offices with South African Police Services (SAPS) regional commissioner Lieutenant General Thembisile Patekile, senior SAPS management, and Members of Parliament from the police oversight committee. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. 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'As articulated in Section 72 of the Constitution, the state bears a positive and non-negotiable duty to respect, protect, promote and fulfil the rights of all persons, especially the most vulnerable.' He added: 'What we see is not only the consequence of gang warfare, but the result of decades-long structural abandonment and institutional erosion. The right to life, dignity, and safety is not aspirational; it is constitutional. When that right is systematically denied, we are compelled by faith and law to act with urgency, clarity and unity.' Cape Crime Crisis Coalition (CCCC) founder Dr Llewellyn MacMaster warned that society must adopt 'multi-focal lenses' when analysing the crisis. 'A lot of the time, we're restricted. Sometimes we must zoom in on the details, but also widen our lens to see the national and international systemic issues. We are the crisis committee, but we must ask: Why are we still in a crisis?' he said. MacMaster called on religious institutions to reclaim their role in addressing what he termed a deep moral and ethical collapse in South African society. 'We've handed over the responsibility for moral regeneration to the government. Remember the last time it was led, it was under Jacob Zuma. We must take back that responsibility. We need courageous leadership, leaders who are not seduced by photo ops with politicians. If we think our role is to take pictures at the table, we are fooling ourselves.' He urged collaboration across faith groups, even without state funding or resources. 'We are building this movement every day without money. But we must reach consensus and act. As the African proverb goes: 'If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.'' Community leader Dean Ramjoomia issued a challenge to faith groups, calling for inward accountability: 'You talk about crime and criminality, but are you dealing with the criminal in your home? Our society is psychosocially dysfunctional. It's easier to deal with a criminal than with the brokenness that produces them.' Ramjoomia also pointed to overlooked trauma among men: 'More men are victims of sexual violence than we admit. But we only see men as perpetrators and villains. There is no healing for the brokenness of men in this society.' Philippi-based leader Nandi Vangqa-Mgijima called for deepened political education and mobilisation among the working class, particularly around the historical roots of gangsterism. 'Gangsterism was a system created by the apartheid government. But it seems now that this very system is being reinvented under the democratic dispensation. We need to understand these root causes, the socioeconomic ills that continue to confront our communities.' She criticised the government's use of commissions of inquiry as ineffectual and wasteful: 'They are often useless and drain resources that should be going to the very communities that suffer most. We need to be informed when we make our demands, not symbolic, but strategic.' Former Western Cape top police officer Jeremy Vearey stressed that the faith sector must now take full leadership of the country's moral regeneration agenda, and not simply play a supporting role to the state. 'The religious community is no longer leaving moral regeneration to the state, policing, or spiral crime prevention programmes,' said Vearey. 'They've now come to the point where they are leading; they've decided to lead their campaign for regeneration.' But he cautioned that this shift must come with state support. Vearey said the collective energy of interfaith leaders, civic groups, and community organisers must now be redirected back into neighbourhoods. The meeting concluded with a renewed commitment from faith and civic leaders to take charge of the moral regeneration agenda, not just as support to state efforts, but as a leading force.
IOL News
15-07-2025
- Politics
- IOL News
Religious leaders, political parties unite against gang violence
A meeting was hosted this week by the Muslim Judicial Council with the South African Police Services Western Cape leadership and various civil society and public representatives from the community to seek collective solutions to the violence ravaging the Cape Flats and surrounding areas. Image: Supplied The Muslim Judicial Council (MJC) has called for a transparent plan of action to secure the safety and wellbeing of gang and violence ridden communities in Cape Town, following a meeting with various stakeholders on Monday. The most recent incident of violence saw a mass killing in Bishop Lavis on Friday night which claimed the lives of four people. Recent weeks have seen a surge in mass shootings wreaking havoc in areas across the city, including in Mitchells Plain, Kraaifontein, Mfuleni, and Lower Crossroads. MJC president, Sheikh Riad Fataar said they called the meeting in their capacity as a senior religious authority and civil society stakeholder. The purpose of the meeting was to initiate 'meaningful deliberations on the immediate and coordinated implementation of solutions'. The meeting saw civil society groups, political parties and the provincial police in attendance. The MJC called for a transparent plan of action. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. 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Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Next Stay Close ✕ Suggestions included visible policing in high crime areas and the implementation of targeted programmes to prevent the criminal recruitment of children and adolescents into gangs. Attendees expressed optimism about the way forward. National Coloured Congress (NCC) leader Fadiel Adams said: 'I'm optimistic. I think it's about time our religious fraternity and all faiths come together and stand with us, as parents and as activists. I believe we can come up with something that truly benefits our kids.' He added that meaningful dialogue about how sectors like sport, social development, and education can be brought into the fold were necessary. ANC leader of the opposition in the provincial legislature, Khalid Sayed said it was a very constructive meeting where practical ideas were put forward to police in the province. 'The one focus being for greater police visibility and actual boots on the ground in crime-ridden areas. Also to make sure there's greater cooperation. "The other thing that came through which Saps agreed with, was for faith leaders need to be called upon. (Saps) must feel free to walk hand in hand with religious leaders in communities because it's at the community level where religious leaders are active. Whether it be in the mosques or churches, where youngsters who are going into this type of criminality where, their families are at. "The strengthening and vetting of CPFs also needs to happen. Another big aspect was that tackling crime in our communities is not just an issue of policing and boots on the ground. It requires all spheres of government. It requires the social and economic aspects to also be in place. All spheres of society and government must work together to ensure young people have alternatives. From our side, we need to ensure that the necessary oversight must take place to ensure Saps and government implement what they are committing when they have meetings such as this,' Sayed said. A follow-up meeting to discuss a workable plan is expected in the coming weeks. Western Cape police did not respond to requests for comment by deadline. Cape Times
IOL News
13-07-2025
- Politics
- IOL News
Demand for judicial inquiry after Bishop Lavis mass shooting
Bishop Lavis Police Station. Image: File picture Not only has the recent mass shooting in Bishop Lavis been condemned by the Muslim Judicial Council (MJC), but it has also sparked a demand for a judicial inquiry into the systemic failure to address gang violence. Four people, including an elderly woman, were gunned down in a house in Bishop Lavis on Friday night. The mass killing comes amid a deadly spate of shootings across the Cape Flats over the past two weeks, with at least five mass shootings reported in Mitchells Plain, Kraaifontein, Mfuleni, and Lower Crossroads. SAPS spokesperson Lieutenant-General Malcolm Pojie confirmed that detectives are investigating the Bishop Lavis killings. 'Preliminary information reveals that two unknown gunmen, who fled the scene in a VW Polo, accosted the four in a bedroom, opened fire, and fatally shot the deceased, who all succumbed to gunshot wounds to their upper bodies,' Pojie said. Bishop Lavis Community Policing Forum (CPF) has condemned the shooting, saying that they are devastated and outraged by the relentless gang violence that continues to claim innocent lives in our neighbourhoods. 'The tragic mass shooting in Bishop Lavis last night, which claimed four lives, is yet another painful reminder of the crisis we face daily.' They are demanding a judicial inquiry into: the systemic failure to address gang violence, the collapse of crime intelligence structures, and the flood of illegal guns and ammunition fueling this bloodshed. 'Enough is enough. We refuse to accept that our children, families, and elders must live as prisoners in their own homes. The government's silence and inaction are tantamount to complicity,' they said. They are also calling for an immediate intervention from national and provincial leadership, increased and visible policing in hotspot areas, accountability for law enforcement failures, and community-centred strategies to tackle poverty, unemployment, and inequality, the root causes of gang recruitment. GOOD Secretary-General, Brett Herron, has said that by Saturday morning, life had moved on, with no heightened police presence. 'In the Cape Flats, violence has become so normalised that mass murder is met with a collective shrug from government and society alike. 'Just last week, two teenage boys were shot and killed in Mitchells Plain. Before that, it was a mass shooting in Gugulethu. Then Philippi. Then Khayelitsha. Week after week, the same story. These murders are not isolated incidents. They are symptoms of a city that continues to entrench spatial and economic injustice,' Herron said. Herron added that while the quality of policing and SAPS policing strategies must be improved, policing alone will not eradicate the crime and gang violence that the people of the Cape Flats have lived with for far too long and which is evidently escalating. 'The truth is that the living conditions in the apartheid era ghettos, which are almost exclusively the locations of this violence, have remained ghetto-like. In fact, these ghetto-like conditions have mostly worsened over the past 30 years. 'Until the City and Province confront the realities of spatial injustice, economic exclusion, and community abandonment, the killings will continue and the silence that follows them will echo even louder. Because four people should not be murdered on a Friday night and forgotten by Saturday morning,' Herron said. The MJC President, Sheikh Riad Fataar, said they've been prompted to speak out, lending their full institutional support to an integrated civic and state response, and will be holding a briefing on Monday to discuss the recent violence. Fataar said that in their capacity as a senior religious authority and civil society stakeholder, the MJC 'hereby conveys its concern regarding the prevailing and intensifying crisis of gang-related violence, organised criminality, and systemic insecurity that has engulfed communities across the Cape Flats and the broader Western Cape'. 'The purpose of the proposed engagement is to initiate meaningful deliberations on the immediate and coordinated implementation of solutions. We respectfully submit that any further delay in articulating and enacting a comprehensive plan of action risks entrenching a parallel social order governed by impunity and violence,' Fataar said. [email protected]
IOL News
01-07-2025
- IOL News
Thieves target Mowbray Cemetery
On Friday, Chairman of the Muslim Cemetery Board and Secretary of the Burial Administration of the Muslim Judicial Council (MJC) Faizal Sayed posted footage of the incident where a man came through the roof to steal the katel. Image: Screenshot The theft of a 'katel' - a ceremonial stretcher used during Muslim funeral rites - from Mowbray Cemetery is not an isolated incident and follows other break-ins and thefts. Chairman of the Muslim Cemetery Board and Secretary of the Burial Administration of the Muslim Judicial Council (MJC) Faizal Sayed on Friday posted footage of the incident where a man came through the roof to steal the katel. Sayed said he posted the footage in hopes of tracing the thief. 'The person cut a hole in the ceiling in the courtyard, came through the ceiling, and took many hours to actually slowly lift the thing up, and get it through the ceiling.' Break-ins and thefts have been reported at Mowbray Cemetery. 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Next Stay Close ✕ Sayed explained that the cemetery has experienced a slight increase in such incidents in the last month and a half. 'The katel is an expensive metal piece, so it was clearly stolen for that purpose. In effect, it has upset the Muslim community a lot because it is something that people see their loved ones off for the last time. 'There's a lot of sentimental value to these things, and the community feels it is a disregard and disrespect to take something of that nature,' Sayed said. Sayed said they have also noted the increased thefts are related to metal. 'The first incident was where they ripped the complete window and window frames off the prayer facility, and they reached their hands in to get a specialised clock.' The clock is a special electronic device typically only found in mosques, which explains when the daily prayer times are, which change every day. 'The other theft included the theft of the outside air conditioning unit, which is very important because it is attached to a building where bodies are prepared for burial. 'The facility requires proper air conditioning, so if people steal those units, which cost thousands of rands, then it impedes the operations of the cemetery." On Friday, Chairman of the Muslim Cemetery Board and Secretary of the Burial Administration of the Muslim Judicial Council (MJC) Faizal Sayed posted footage of the incident where a man came through the roof to steal the katel. Image: Screenshot Sayed said these incidents speak to a broader systemic issue of thefts at cemeteries, which are 'currently experiencing an increase in this type of activity where people are taking tombstones and metal items around graves'. 'We need to talk to the systemic values that people are missing within themselves, if you are going so far as desecrating the spaces of the deceased. There is a sanctity involved in all of that which we feel is being disrespected.' Sayed added that they've continuously increased gates and upgraded security systems, but this did not deter the thieves. The City, which manages 42 cemeteries, has experienced similar challenges of theft. The City's Recreation and Parks Department said security guards are stationed at most cemeteries, but because cemeteries are classified as open spaces and must remain accessible to the public, 'the size of these facilities makes it challenging and cost-prohibitive to provide full-time on-site security coverage across all areas'. 'Vandalism and theft are a major challenge affecting many communities throughout the city. When it occurs in community facilities, it attracts anti-social behaviour.
IOL News
30-06-2025
- IOL News
Outrage over stolen ‘katel' at Mowbray Cemetery
Break-ins and thefts have been reported at Mowbray Cemetery. Image: Armand Hough The theft of a 'katel' — a ceremonial stretcher used during Muslim funeral rites — from Mowbray Cemetery has not been an isolated incident but follows other break-ins and thefts. On Friday, Chairman of the Muslim Cemetery Board and Secretary of the Burial Administration of the Muslim Judicial Council (MJC) Faizal Sayed posted footage of the incident where a man came through the roof to steal the katel. Sayed said that he posted the footage in hopes of tracing the person. 'The person cut a hole in the ceiling in the courtyard, came through the ceiling, and took many hours to actually slowly lift the thing up, and get it through the ceiling.' Sayed explained that the cemetery has experienced a slight increase in such incidents in the last month and a half, and that not all of them have involved a katel. 'The katel is an expensive metal piece, so it was clearly stolen for that purpose. In effect, it has upset the Muslim community a lot because it is something that people see their loved ones off for the last time. 'There's a lot of sentimental value to these things, and the community feels it is a disregard and disrespect to take something of that nature,' Sayed said. Sayed said they have also noticed how the increased thefts are related to metal. 'The first incident was where they ripped the complete window and window frames off the prayer facility, and they reached their hands in to get a specialised clock.' The clock is a special electronic device typically only found in mosques, which explains when the daily prayer times are, which change every day. 'The other theft included the theft of the outside air conditioning unit, which is very important because it is attached to a building where bodies are prepared for burial. 'The facility requires proper air conditioning, so if people steal those units, which cost thousands of rands, then it impedes the operations of the cemetery. Sayed said these incidents speak to a broader systemic issue of thefts at cemeteries, which are 'currently experiencing an increase in this type of activity where people are taking tombstones and metal items around graves'. On Friday, Chairman of the Muslim Cemetery Board and Secretary of the Burial Administration of the Muslim Judicial Council (MJC) Faizal Sayed posted footage of the incident where a man came through the roof to steal the katel. Image: Screenshot On Friday, Chairman of the Muslim Cemetery Board and Secretary of the Burial Administration of the Muslim Judicial Council (MJC) Faizal Sayed posted footage of the incident where a man came through the roof to steal the katel. Image: Screenshot The City of Cape Town, which manages 42 cemeteries, have shared that they experience similar challenges. On Monday, the City's Recreation and Parks Department said that security guards are stationed at most cemeteries, but because cemeteries are classified as open spaces and must remain accessible to the public, 'the size of these facilities makes it challenging and cost-prohibitive to provide full-time on-site security coverage across all areas'. 'Vandalism and theft are a major challenge affecting many communities throughout the city. When it occurs in community facilities, it attracts anti-social behaviour.
