Call to save Gugulethu’s boys
Hundreds of people from several organisations met in Gugulethu last week, vowing to not give up on the township’s boys and calling for the police to do more to fight crime.
The Mass Prayer for a Boy Child was led by the Ubuhlobo Women’s Society at the Gugulethu Indoor Sports Complex on Thursday last week
And those who took part marched to the Gugulethu police station where they handed over a memorandum calling for SAPS to deploy the elite National Intervention Unit to the area and devise an effective plan to combat crime.
“We are here to ask for God’s intervention. These are our children that we gave birth to. We cannot turn our backs on them now. We refuse to do that. They need us to save them,” said Ubuhlobo Women’s Society chairperson Babalwa Mothibi.
Many boys in Gugulethu were raised by their grandmothers, and, with no role models or father figures to look up to, they often dropped out of school and ended up turning to crime, she said.
“They obviously need mentors and love. Today we are here to tell them that we are here for them. They are not alone. They must trust us that we love them,” she said.
Ubuhlobo deputy chairperson Fanelwa Sfanqane said Gugulethu faced a surge in crime that many felt had reached crisis proportions, and boys were behind most of it.
“Boys are a concern because of their behaviour. As parents, we have put more focus on a girl child and forgot that boys are people. I think, at some point, we left them alone. But today we are here to say they must come back home. They are not amaphara, but our children. Asivumi ngabo,” she said.
Acting Gugulethu police chief Colonel Soyiso Mantyi commended the organisers of the initiative and said the community should have marched and prayed a long time ago to save the boys in the area.
“We need to improve the collaboration between police and the community... The problem with Gugulethu now is extortion, but I must say we are dealing with it. I can commit to that.”
Without the community, crime would never be defeated, he said, adding that the police drew strength from the community’s support and prayers.
