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| Trash piles up in Samora Machel, Cape Town, fearing employees of a cleaning company contracted by the City of Cape Town would enter the site. © Photograph: Sandiso Phariso |
Shootings, murders, robberies, car thefts, and threats to contract workers in Cape Town occur daily during Philippi Freedom Day in Cape Town. In Philippi East, the library at Brown's Farm was closed after a trash picker was taken out of service, and a staff member's cell phone was stolen after a worker was shot dead while picking up trash on Tuesday. Garbage has not been picked up in Samora Machel for weeks because employees of the cleaning company Wastemart are afraid to enter the town.
Two weeks ago, Wastemart employees were threatened and intimidated by a consortium extorting protection money from government contractors. This week, a thug beat a cleaning company employee again. A worker was shot dead in Philippi East, and the killer fled. Following the shootings, garbage collection and other city services in Philippi East, Brown's Farm, and Samora Machel were immediately shut down. Workers were herded to safety at the Philippi East Police Station. Other businesses have also stopped collecting waste after being told to stop working until threats from criminals forced their bosses to incinerate the waste.
District Councilor Lungisa Somdaka confirmed that city workers and contractors had stopped operations due to criminal threats. With a population of over 190,000 in 2011, Philippi is one of the poorest areas in Cape Town, with an unemployment rate of 38%, less than half of households living in formal housing, and a third paying less than R3.2 billion per month. They do not have direct access to running water, and 23% do not have access to flush toilets.
According to the Western Cape government's latest crime report, 183 murders have been recorded at the Philippi East Police Station, one of the highest in the province. The Browns Farm library has been closed for almost a month after a gun and knife-wielding criminals stole the cell phones of four employees on March 29. Patricia Van der Ross, a Mayco member in charge of community services and health for the City of Cape Town, reported that the library had about 20 patrons at the time and was not robbed. The nearest library is at Crossroads, 2 km away from her. The shooter posed as a library patron to gain access to the library. It's not the first time criminals have shut down a library, and her 13-year-old teenager is among the robbers in the area. Motorists are the target, and shooting is the norm.
Weekends are incredibly terrifying because alcohol is a leading cause of crime: Joblessness, high school dropouts, drugs and gangs, and few opportunities for entertainment for children. Residents are on alert, and members are in crime hotspots, but there is little they can do against gun-toting criminals. As a result, some people take the law into their own hands, attacking or killing individuals suspected of wrongdoing. Life in the Philippines is hard, and people must avoid trouble.
