WATCH | Prayers answered as army hits the street in Cape Town

Behind locked church and mosque doors, Hanover Park residents have been praying for the army to be deployed to Cape Town's violence-infested areas.

Their places of worship were closed two weeks ago due to intense gang violence. On Thursday, their prayers were answered.

"The shooting has been very bad. They closed the churches and the mosques. We prayed for this moment every night," said Hanover Park resident Colin Brady.

Soldiers from 8 SA Infantry battalion rolled into Manenberg and Hanover Park, two of Cape Town's worst affected gang areas, on Thursday afternoon.

The soldiers split into groups of armoured vehicles accompanying various police and metro police units as they performed road blocks and raided houses of wanted gangsters.

The streets were filled with excited children mimicking the troops; giving salutes and marching. Mostly, they stared in awe.

They told of how their school holiday was ruined by constant shootings and murders.

"We couldn't go out. They [gangsters] ruined our holiday. The skollies are just shooting everyday, bah bah bah bah bah," said one of the kids, imitating the sound of gunshots.

As evening fell on Thursday, children played in the streets around the military vehicles as troops departed to provide safe passage for a mixture of law enforcement and police units on their way to raid a suspected drug house.

Casting her eyes toward the two-storey structure which stands as a monument to the gains of criminality in the midst of abject poverty, a resident commented: "It's about time."

She was afraid to say more.

As the military vehicle departed from one area a resident ran frantically to reporters.

"They shot here last night. They killed two people in this field here. Six people last week. If you leave, tonight it will be the same," said the resident with an expression of desperation.

The children and the residents all shared the same sense of desperation and abandonment.  

"Are they going to stay here?" asked one child.

"I heard they are setting up a tent. They must stay in the night," another said.

Resident Geraldine Pretorius said it had been a long time since she had seen people on the streets like Thursday night.

"I haven't been to church in two weeks. They must remove these bad elements now," she said.

Brady wished the army could stay longer, but said while soldiers were there the police needed to clear out blocks of flats which gangs control.

But the children had a simple answer to the problem. "They must take away the guns. They have lots of guns."

They pointed out that there were "rotten cops" among the large contingent of different law enforcement officers who were in the neighbourhood conducting operations.

"The cops smokkel (smuggle) weapons to the gangs and the gangsters give them drugs. Some of those cops are here," said a child.