19th October 2011

Gangs of pupils terrorising communities

Five communities in Limpopo are being terrorised by gangs that steal and even hack their victims to death with pangas and butcher’s knifes.

These gangs are operating in Bloodriver, Makgofe, Spook Park, Deiring and Mmotong-wa-Perekisi, outside Polokwane.

Armed groups of young men and women rule with an iron fist, and villagers refuse to speak openly against Ma-Zulu, Mateki, Mawestside, Maprisioners, MaZone2 and Ma24.

Some gang members are pupils as young as 14, although the ringleaders are adults in their late twenties. They have marked their territories, which rivals and strangers are not allowed to cross into.

Now they have taken over control at local schools.

“They smoke in class, they play music on their cellphones during lessons, all of us know that they hide their dangerous weapons in the toilets,” said a pupil at Molautsi Secondary School in Bloodriver.