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Gangs in Durban

‘On the first day of Christmas, SAPS said to me, that four drive-by shootings, three gangsters killed, two innocent victims and a community in terror, are just Christmas festivities.’

Like most people who watched Carte Blanche this Sunday, I was flabbergasted by the comments of Brigadier Sayers, who stated that there are no gang activities in Wentworth. That the four drive-by shootings that occurred on Christmas day were just part of general festive activities.

This man is either grossly incompetent or creatively ignorant, and I’m not sure which is worse.  

I grew up in Durban. And in this city by the sea, there are five major hubs of Coloured settlements, being Sydenham, Newlands East, Greenwood Park, Marrianeridge and of course, Wentworth. And the very nature of Coloured Family Units in Durbs, meant that you actually had relatives living in every one of these communities. And of course, when it came to time to visit Aunt Glenda living in Quality Street in Wentworth, the youngsters like myself would be sent to the shop to buy bread, or to the shebeen to buy beer. There is no scarier journey for a twelve/thirteen year old boy than having to go to the shop or shebeen in a community you do not call home. Gangsters would congregate around these businesses and when they see a new face, they pounce.

 “What kind ek’se. Where you from? Who you here to visit? Are you snaying me? What size are your takkies? And let me check your watch, and your chain there bru.”

Gangsters have been operating in Durban from the time my father was getting up to mischief in the streets of Greenwood Park. One of his best friends was attacked by gangsters, who then tied him to the train tracks where a locomotive amputated both of his legs. Gangs in Durban are not a new phenomenon.

So for Brigadier Sayers to say there are no gangs in Durban means he does not know what he is doing, or he is in the pocket of these gang leaders and drug lords. In my novel, By Any Means, there is a character named Lazarus who is based on a real life drug lord and gang leader in Sydenham. In 2005, I went to Durban on a holiday and on this particular morning, I took a walk to the corner store to buy a newspaper. The headline on the front page read something like “SAPS searching for Drug Kingpin that is on the run.” They go on to name this well-known outlaw in the article and at that very point (hand to my heart, I swear), he pulled up to the same corner store that I was standing at to buy bread and milk. His daughter was in the car with him in a school uniform as he was dropping her off. Perhaps they forgot to look for him at his home?

This is how serious SAPS takes crimes that occur in Coloured areas. A friend of my brother was shot dead in the parking lot of takeout by the owner of the restaurant because he was dating the owners’ daughter. I do not know what happened with regards to the legal activities that followed as I was thirteen years old at most at the time. But what I do know and remember, was that the takeaway was closed for a weekend, and then the owner re-opened it on the following Monday, and he has opened the doors every day since.

If Brigadier Sayers wants to know who these gangsters are, all he has to do is go to any ten year old boy or girl in The Wenties, The ‘Nams, The Fields, The Ridge or The East and they will be able to tell him who the gangsters are, where they hang out, the name of the gang and who that gang is beefing with at that very moment. Instead, he would rather stand over the corpses of slain gangsters and slain bystanders and ask, “Problem? What problem?”

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