“Every day and night it’s Guy Fawkes in Helenvale” – this was the cry of fearful residents who attended a safety indaba aimed at tackling rampant gang violence and crime in the besieged neighbourhood on Tuesday.
While the intervention – led by the Helenvale Development Forum – was aimed at engaging the community and police to come up with solutions to deal with endemic lawlessness in this particular part of the northern areas, it also came just four days after the coldblooded murder of three youngsters in Booysen Park on Friday.
The indaba at the Helenvale Resource Centre follows the recent violence which led to the closure of the post office and has threatened to shut down clinics and schools.
Residents were given an opportunity to voice their concerns and suggest strategies to help curb crime in what they say has become “a living hell”.
Addressing the meeting, Helenvale Peace Ambassadors vice-chair Gregory Visagie, 59 – who is also a street patroller – said gone were the days when crime and shootings only happened at night, with thugs now shooting and robbing residents in broad daylight.
Visagie said they had started recruiting residents to patrol the streets of Helenvale three years ago and, in June 2018, had begun patrolling at night, seven days a week.
“Gangsterism in this neighbourhood is out of hand,” he said.
“Our schoolchildren are now involved.
“Not long ago, we were called out to a fight at the Hillcrest Primary School and we were shocked at the weapons we confiscated from the pupils – which included knives.
“It’s hell for us. Our children no longer run [away] when there are gunshots, but run in the direction of the gunshots.
“Now, people bring chairs out and watch – as if they’re watching action movies.”
He said parents needed to learn to parent their children.
“We allow our children too much now.”
Visagie said the police also needed to be more visible and unite with the community.
“Our lives are in great danger here. It is difficult for us to even report a crime.
“When the shootings happen and they [gangsters] see you on the phone, they will shoot you.
“Or if they heard that you reported [a crime], you may not live to tell the story.”
The 10111 toll-free police emergency number is useless, according to Visagie, and when residents do manage to get through, the police always want personal details – “meanwhile, someone is being murdered or robbed”.
Bayview Primary School principal Tyrone Johannes said the community needed to jump on board to save Helenvale.
He said many teachers feared going to school because of the violence and threats from gangsters.
“We must all start from scratch now and go back to the basics.”
He said the community could have as many safety indabas as it wanted and police could deploy hundreds of officers, “but we must first instill discipline and safety at home”.
Johannes said the government neglected special needs pupils, who tended to drop out of school and join gangs.
Helenvale Development Forum chair Desira Davids said the intervention by the forum and community was meant to unite people and the police to work together.
“We have set a minimum of 200 street patrollers to patrol the streets of Helenvale and with the help of the community we will conquer the alarming rate of crime,” she said.
Davids said the forum had been in talks for a partnership with the PE College to develop and equip the patrollers with the necessary skills for their safety on the streets.
Addressing the indaba on behalf of the police, Sergeant Harron Mahdi, from the Gelvandale police station, said police already had a plan in hand to tackle the issue of violence in Helenvale.
He said that since last week police and vehicles had been deployed to patrol the streets in the vicinity of schools in the mornings, as well as during the lunch break and when classes were dismissed.
“Do not close the schools,” Mahdi said.
“By closing the schools, you are opening opportunities for children to join gangsters – because when they are at school we can manage them and have control.”
Mahdi said four vehicles would be deployed for day and night patrols in November and December as part of the Safer Festive Season operations in He appealed to the residents to stop stoning the police when they were called to crime scenes and instead work together to fight crime.
“This thing of stoning police needs to stop,” he said.
“Police are not here to fight people, but to fight the gangsters.”
Resident Gay Fontain, 50, told The Herald the community had become a place to foster gangsterism.
“There have always been gangsters in our neighbourhood, but now it is worse.
“Every day, there is a shooting and innocents die all the time – it’s hell.”
Fontain said shootings and gang-related crimes had become normal, with bullets flying around all the time.
“Every day and night, it’s Guy Fawkes day in Helenvale,” she said, adding that gangsters were terrorising the residents.
She said life was a living hell and the gangsters did not care who saw their activities because they knew no-one would report them.
“It is traumatising to live in Helenvale and raise children.
“Our community is divided into four [gang turf] sections and when these gangsters are fighting, we cannot travel to other areas.”
Fontain said it was hard for residents to testify against the gangsters because, the following day, the witness would be the next victim.
“It might be a solution if they can swap police every six months because we feel like these gangsters know them too well.
“It would be better if police from another area could police here and provide protection for witnesses.”
She also urged parents to take responsibility for their children.
“Everything starts at home. Know your child and his whereabouts.
“Here, parents don’t care much about their kids.
“Everyone, including the police, must reach out to the gangsters when they are still teenagers.”
In a follow-up to the indaba, the forum will be meeting with street patrollers on Wednesday to plan the way forward.