MPILETSO MOTUMI
TAMARI Mnisi will no longer sit back and watch as her Freedom Park community in Soweto is victimised by criminals.
A survivor of a vicious attack by members of the so-called Golf Club Gang, she has decided to get involved in the community’s fight against crime by joining patrols.
“I don’t want anyone to ever experience what I have had to go through,” said Mnisi.
She and her husband had been walking to a monthly church night vigil when they were attacked by the gang.
“They came out of nowhere and hit my husband. The next thing I know, I was struck and fell to the ground,” said Mnisi. Even though struck repeatedly by the gang, Mnisi escaped being raped and ran to find help.
At least five people are said to have been killed and a number of women have been raped during the gang’s reign of terror.
Calling themselves Sidl’ abafazi abafileyo(a necrophiliac’s boast), they target victims walking along the thickets in bushy areas in Freedom Park, a former squatter camp, that many use as shortcuts to get to various places.
“I want to be able to protect my family and my community,” said Mnisi.
As part of a community safety drive for the 16 Days of Activism, Gauteng Safety MEC Faith Mazibuko visited some of those who had been attacked by the gang to offer support.
“You little ones are my project,” she said to the siblings of one victim who had lost her job and suffered serious injuries to her jaw and head.
“We have to get them back into school and help their older sister find a job,” she said.
Mnisi has been unemployed since the October 28 incident.
Mazibuko asked her: “Are you strong enough to join the patrollers?”
“Yes,” Mnisi replied without hesitating.
The deep scar on the side of her head is there for all to see and constantly reminds her of the attack.
“I don’t want this to ever happen again,” she said.
Mazibuko went on to see the shack, known as “parliament”, in which the gang is alleged to have stayed from time to time.
It is behind the RDP house that belongs to the mother of the alleged gang leader, the “president”. The gang members call themselves MPs (as in members of parliament).
From behind the shack there is a panoramic view of many of the pathways that people trudge daily as they go about their business.
The angry Freedom Park community felt that police protection in the area was not enough.
Even though the SAPS has a vehicle that conducts 24-hour patrols along the paths the gang has used to stage ambushes, the community does not think the police’s efforts are enough.
“The community needs to have power and a sense of support from the police. Police are visible until around 7pm, but thereafter they leave. The criminals only come out at night when the police are gone,” said resident Thabo Modiba.
To date, 18 suspects whose ages range from 16 to 33, have been arrested. They are due to appear in court tomorrow.