About 50 people from Eerste River and surrounding areas protested earlier this week at the traffic lights at Zevenwacht Mall to make their voices heard about the dangers people experience in their communities. The protest took place under the banner of “Coloured Lives Matter”.
According to Richard Jacobs from Eerste River, one of the organisers, the response was amazing. “The majority of people in vehicles passing acknowledged us, some even stopping to thank us. People walking past also asked questions.”
Living in fear
He said communities were living in fear. “There are shootings all over the Cape Flats that are killing our people on a daily basis. Every day we hear or read in social media of our coloured people being murdered. It is mostly young men, but innocent lives are being caught in the crossfires as well. We are saying enough is enough and we want the President to deploy the army. The army was deployed during Covid to help stop the spread of the disease, but can’t be deployed to prevent the daily killings. In our community we face gang warfare. I am not saying the police are not doing their job, because some of them are doing so with little to no resources, to the best of their ability, so they need assistance.”
The “Coloured Lives Matter” campaign was started by the Patriotic Alliance, and many communities from across the country took part in peaceful protests.
