Is there Justice in the Cape Flats?
“My wife cries anytime she puts a plate of food on the table. Then she says she once again forgot. It’s not nice. Me too, every day, I think of him.”
Bonteheuwel father of murdered son.
You and I are both aware of the state of crime in Cape Town – and if you don’t, you really should step out of the gated community that you hide behind or stop watching ANN7.
Over the last few weeks, I have been fortunate to work with an NGO (The Justice Desk) which aims to empower vulnerable communities. One project which I have been involved in is proposing ways to lower crime and tackle gangsterism in the Cape Flats, especially Bonteheuwel. Why? Despite their jaw-dropping crime rate, the community of Bonteheuwel does not house its own police station! Bizarre, I know.
Let me show you why the fact that Bonteheuwel not having a police station is actually sickening, by using a practical analogy that the residents are too familiar with. More appropriately, since it is #WomensMonth, I shall draw on the staggering occurrence of sexual assault (rape) on women in Bonteheuwel. Sexual assault against women in South Africa is painstakingly popular. Now, imagine this happens to a woman in Bonteheuwel – how does one report the crime? Must a rape victim now vulnerably walk 3kms into Bishop Lavis to report a crime? What immediate safeguards are there for such an event…? There aren’t any. Bonteheuwel has a satellite police station – which, respectfully, does nothing.
The Justice Desk, after many months of planning, launched a successful kid-led protest in Bonteheuwel, joined with community members and other NGOs, gripping the attention of the media.
In preparation for the protest, we visited local Bonteheuwel primary schools and encouraged the kids to write, draw and paint about things they no longer wished to see in their community. None of us could have imagined what these kids (no older than 10) had been exposed to and what they were about to display for us. Since I was involved with the paintings, I provide a handful of their artwork, which remember, are meant to be their symbol of protest against gangsterism on the day of the march.
I urge you to go through each painting slowly and ask yourself one question: What were you frequently exposed to at the age of 9? Gangsterim in the Cape Flats seems to run more free than the Guptas, and, as Jacob and Duduzane Zuma has shown in recent weeks, every criminal has their day in court.
Is there Justice in the Cape Flats? I think not.
Bonteheuwel child paints a memory of a woman being shot.
Bonteheuwel child paints against gangsterism.
Bonteheuwel child paints a scene he’ll never forget.
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