There is no safe place in Mitchells Plain due to the unprecedented levels of gang violence.

The local Community Policing Forum chairperson, Norman Jantjies says there are at least four gangs that are locked in battle almost daily.

A local Moulana has told Radio 786 that he performed the Janaza (funeral) of 17 youths in a space of a week – all of them were killed in gang related shootings.

The Mitchells Plain CPF has called for a collective response to the gangsterism and urban gang warfare. It has proposed the declaration of a state of emergency.

For years several communities have been held hostage by gangsters and authorities have yet to develop a sustainable strategy to counter this organised crime.