Violence

Angy Peter trial: Dying declaration unlikely testifies surgeon

Dr Elmin Steyn testified in the Angy Peter trial yesterday that it was “extremely unlikely” that someone in Rowan du Preez’s condition would have been able to “have a long and complicated conversation” in which he identified his assailants.

Adam Armstrong

News | 22 May 2014

Laws of physics suspended - prosecutor in Angy Peter trial

Forensic specialist Dr David Klatzow testified yesterday in the Angy Peter murder trial. The court is currently hearing a “trial-within-a-trial” which will determine whether it was possible for the murdered man, Rowan du Preez, to have made his dying declaration, as the state alleges.

Adam Armstrong

News | 21 May 2014

Capricorn violence: taxi drivers killing each other

Residents from Capricorn near Muizenberg are afraid to go to work and school because of violent clashes. There appears to be a taxi war with racial overtones.

Pharie Sefali

News | 20 May 2014

“In a matter of seconds a man is dead “ÂŚ for snatching a handbag”

“We don’t need to focus on fighting crime ... we need to heal our communities,” testified Professor Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela at the Khayelitsha Inquiry into policing this morning. Her testimony described the social and psychological trauma of the Khayelitsha community, and how that results in vigilante killings.

Adam Armstrong

News | 16 May 2014

Angy Peters case: a trial within a trial

The case against Social Justice Coalition (SJC) activist Angy Peters and three others on trial for the kidnapping and murder of a Mfuleni man 18 months ago, was postponed today.

Barbara Maregele

News | 15 May 2014

Du Preez was no longer an informer, says police officer

Rowan du Preez was no longer a police informer at the time of his death last year, police sergeant Andile Tshila told the court last week during the trial of Social Justice Coalition leader Angy Peter.

Simone Haysom

News | 6 May 2014

Nyanga community members beat up alleged child rapist

Last Thursday a twelve-year-old girl was raped in Nyanga, allegedly by her neighbour, in front of her grandmother.

Pharie Sefali

News | 5 May 2014

Nyanga residents attack suspected TV thief

Nyanga residents are looking for a 20 year old man accused of stealing a plasma TV from his neighbour and said to be a rapist and a gangster.

Pharie Sefali

News | 23 April 2014

Peter trial: Defence questions how burnt witness could have fingered accused

The trial of Angy Peter and Isaac Mbadu continued last week after a two week recess. Peter and Mbadu are on trial, along with two others, Azola Dayimani and Christopher Dina, for the murder by ‘necklacing’ of Rowan du Preez in October 2012.

Simone Haysom

News | 23 April 2014

Murder in Ceres: gay people are not safe, says activist

Activist Kenith Abrahams, who was a friend of David Olyn, a gay man murdered in Ceres three weeks ago, says gay people in the community do not feel safe.

Pharie Sefali

News | 15 April 2014

Enkanini’s “field of death”

Residents of Enkanini informal settlement in Khayelitsha say they have taken it upon themselves to deal with thugs that are terrorising the community.

Johnnie Isaac

News | 14 April 2014

20 years later, Rwandans still struggling to reconcile

Rwandan Hutu cousins, Hakizimana and Kwizera (not their real names), aged 30 and 35, believe the 1994 genocide story is told in a partisan manner, and they say the reconciliation and unity policy is government imposed.

Tariro Washinyira

News | 11 April 2014

Frustrated residents in Makhaya, Khayelitsha, arrested after taking the law into their own hands

Residents in Makhaya section 23 were arrested at 3am this morning, accused of chasing people out of their homes. While the police were arresting people, two houses in the area were being broken into by criminals.

Pharie Sefali

News | 18 March 2014

Religious leaders ask their congregations to do more than pray for an end to gang violence on the Cape Flats

On 14 March, Imam Rashied Omar, chairperson of the Western Cape Religious Leaders Forum (WCRLF), hosted Manenberg community leaders at the Claremont Main Road mosque, where he officiates.

Yazeed Kamaldien

News | 17 March 2014

Former gang member calls for the army to pacify the Cape Flats “civil war”

Former gang member Mervin Lewis says what is happening in Mitchells Plain, Manenberg, Nyanga, Khayelitsha and Gugulethu is not a gang fight, but a low intensity civil war.

Mary-Anne Gontsana

News | 12 March 2014

Manenberg schools battle for safety

Lesley Knight has been teaching at Edendale Primary School for 27 years. She has witnessed some of the worst incidents of gang violence in Manenberg.

Sibusiso Tshabalala

News | 25 February 2014