14-year-old shot dead, two wounded on their way to school in Cape Town

A 55-year-old man was shot and wounded metres from the scene

19 November 2024 - 14:06 By Kim Swartz
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A 14-year-old Cape Town pupil was shot dead while on the way to school. Stock photo.
A 14-year-old Cape Town pupil was shot dead while on the way to school. Stock photo.
Image: 123RF

A 14-year-old grade 8 pupil was killed and two others were wounded in a shooting in Elsies River, Cape Town, on Tuesday.

“Reports from the scene indicate the children were on their way to school when the shooting occurred,” police spokesperson Brig Novela Potelwa said. “It is alleged that two gunmen in a vehicle disembarked in Donnegal Street and fired shots.” 

Two teenagers, aged 15 and 17, were transported to a medical facility. 

Potelwa said a manhunt was launched for the suspects who will face charges of murder and attempted murder.

“Subsequently, a 55-year-old man was shot and wounded metres away from the scene and is receiving medical treatment. 

“The area has been bolstered with additional deployments in an effort to stabilise the precinct,” said Potelwa. 

The motive for the shooting will form part of the investigation. 

After the shooting the gunmen were seen running through the grounds of St Andrews Technical High School.

It was reported that all schools in the area were placed under lockdown and pupils were sent home. Matriculants, however, still wrote their exams while strong security continents patrolled outside.

GOOD party secretary-general Brett Heron said gang culture will thrive until structural underdevelopment is fixed.

“That’s the 'normal' rhythm of life for hundreds of thousands of Capetonians. Instead of implementing programmes to develop young peoples’ abilities to improve their lives and escape apartheid-created ghettoes, the post-apartheid government spends billions of rand on law enforcement — while leaving the people to stew,” said Herron.

“The vast majority of people on the Cape Flats don’t want to live in a gangster state, which does not imply they want to live in a police state either. What most parents want, more than anything — in common with just about all parents, everywhere — is for their children to have the opportunity to live better lives than they have.”

Herron called on the Western Cape provincial government to publicly review its safety plan and law enforcement advancement plan, undertake an honest cost-benefit analysis, and convene a crime summit at which people living on the Cape Flats can share their daily lived experiences.

“If we want to reduce crime, we’ve got to interrupt the pattern. To interrupt the pattern, we’ve got to stop accepting that the conditions in which many people live, in which many feel they have nothing to lose, are by any means normal.”

TimesLIVE


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