The victims caught in Crossfire in Cape Town

The amazing father lies on the narrow bed, and indicates two small holes in the wall of his home.

This is a blatant evidence of the moment he destroyed his family’s life forever.

The four -year -old Devon Africa was killed in February, and he was arrested in an exchange of fire between criminals.

He was a victim of the gang warfare with which Cape Flases, and the towns around Cape Town, were from the apartheid, when the non-white population was transferred from the wealthy city center to the suburbs that suffer from resource deficiency.

He says: “This is the lead hole here.” “This is where he sleeps.”

The family had already endured an indescribable horror.

Kelly Empress’s older sister, Kelly Amber, was killed two years ago, and they shot on competitors shooting each other. It was 12.

Now Devon and his wife, Undean, only their younger daughter remains.

“Where is my brother?” Says Unandan. “So I told her that he is with Jesus in the heart of my father and in my heart.”

This murder took place in an area known as Wesbank, but many other families across the wider Cape Falas area had similar nightmares, despite the assurances made by the growing patrol police.

The numbers tell a terrifying story. According to the police, the West Cape County – where Cape Flases sits – sees the vast majority of murders related to South Africa, according to the police.

Officially, this is a government’s priority for government. President Cyril Ramavusa established a special unit to combat gang violence in 2018, and the army was briefly deployed in the region the following year, but the problem continued, and the killings continued.

“There is a full history and generations of people born in these gangs,” says Gareth Newham, head of the Justice and Violence Program at the Institute of Security Studies in Johannesburg.

((They) flourish in the areas that have been largely neglected or left behind by the state. Gangs provide a form of the social structure that already provides services to societies that the state does not provide. It provides food for homes. Money for electricity. Money for transportation or funerals. These gangs pay even school fees. “

They are included in society and “for this reason it is difficult for the police to treat … this means that they can use the homes of non -gangle to store medicines and store weapons.”

But there are people trying to address the case.

Fifteen kilometers (nine miles) of Wesbank is Hanover Park where the Craven Engil priest is pasted on his mobile phone throughout the day, every day in his pursuit of peace.

His mission is to mediate gang conflicts to stop this violence and murder, which is fueled by profitable trade in drugs. He and his team try to follow a basic formula: detection, interruption and change of minds.

“Hanover Park does not have an economy to talk about,” says Reverend Engel. “The largest part of the economy comes out of the drug culture. This is the largest economy.”

Priest Angel says that the effect of the racist separation on the region cannot be overlooked, but none of the shocks in generations – as it destroys drugs and then the family collapsing.

“Article (drugs) creates unemployment, the substance creates theft and creates gang battles because of the mear. Thus, the substance falls in the midst of many atrocities within society.”

This society, which includes about 50,000 people, must shoot and appeal almost daily. Young people who kill and kill.

“It is unlikely that the police approach alone will solve the problem because you may arrest people for being members of the gangs, and to get fire and kill. They will go to prison, but then they are having their place of younger members. This creates a completely different set of problems. They are more likely to enter into battles on lands and auras.”

“How is a child shot seven times in his head or three times in his back? How does a stray bullet hit a child?” Reverend Angel asks.

On his phone, he calls on community leaders and gang shelter, and works constantly to try and go to violence. When BBC Africs, he tries to mediate the shooting between two warring gangs – and runs the arrival of the prison leader of one of them.

“If you want something to happen, you still happen. Do you understand the priest?” The head of the gang screams at the bottom of the line. “But I can tell you one thing. I am a man who loves to confront him if you are fire.”

Threats. Even from behind bars.

But the priest, Engel, is unabated. He is very clear in his community, whether in the house of Arnicism or before his big and loud group on Sunday.

“I think what makes it very terrible now is that there are more children participating in the gangs, because the gangs are between eight and 15 years old,” he says.

The program that he runs is used to obtaining government funds, but this has dried up. To cut the supply lines and protect the innocent, it will meet with victims and perpetrators anywhere and at any time.

The members of the rehabilitation gangs also send them to negotiate directly with the warring factions. Those who lived life on the brink of death know how important pressure is for peace instead.

Glenn Hans is one person. He meets with competing gangs to persuade them to honor the ceasefire. “I was also in this game. As long as I made a decision you want to be a better person. That’s it,” says to a group of gang members.

One has a chilling response: “The more we kill, the more we benefit from the earth, the more we have the land, the more we can build. So, for me to talk about peace – I cannot make this decision because it is not my decision to ensure peace.”

The ceasefire, which was eventually agreed, continues only a few days, is broken due to the killing of two people in shooting from a engine.

But some in thick conflict had enough.

Fernando – or Nando – Johnston in a gang called MongRells, and wants to try to find a way out with the help of priest Engel.

The pastor describes Mr. Johnston as a young man and a “born in the gang” since his entire family was involved.

“In this game, there are only two options – either you go to prison or die,” says Johnston.

“I really want to change the direction and I think there is always a way. This is why I got close to the priest – to ask him whether there is a plan or way to take me.”

It will join a rehabilitation program from six to 12 weeks run by the priest and will be funded through charitable donations designed to get people out of the drug and at work.

“The thing is that you can now start building yourself again,” the priest Angel tells him. “You will be able to get a job and earn money for yourself. Then you will not have to scream and take revenge here anymore.”

“I am ready to go, shepherd,” says Mr. Johnston, who is ready to leave his multiplied community and Dabat in search of a new path.

These closest to him gathered to wish him success. His mother, April April, hinders tears, desperate, this time, her son will choose life. “Please just take advantage of this opportunity, Nando,” she says.

“Yes, a mummy, I always take advantage of the situation.”

But this was not easy.

“Fernando’s father was a gang, but my other children’s father was a noble man,” says Master Johnston’s mother.

“But since he was a gang man, the children also engaged in gangs despite their constant warning. It was not easy to raise four children on my own, as you know. I always encourage him to make a change, because I love him a lot.”

So far, very good for Mr. Johnston. Two weeks after the start of the program, it is still there.

“Nando settles. He is on a business program. He is busy seeing his family and seeing his children. He visited a house yesterday. We have allowed him to lose and test clear without drugs in his regime.”

Hope is a rare commodity here, but it sometimes stems from cracks in the streets that have seen a lot of shock.

Not all streets, though. Very little hope is found in Devon Africa and Undean Koopman’s House, which is located in the middle of the battlefield.

The cycle of killings and revenge that struck the areas fighting on the edges of this beautiful city in South Africa is overwhelming for many of those who struggle to survive.

Often those who have fallen into the middle must make impossible options.

“The community members, even if they oppose gangs, are not necessarily supportive of the police for two reasons,” says Mr. Newham.

“One of them is that they do not know that the police will actually come if they are contacted. If they call the police, they will not have any idea whether the police officers are corrupt. People do not understand the size of the challenge in South Africa.”

The feelings that peace makers reflected on the front lines in this war. “No one will come from anywhere to help or rescue us. Not from abroad. It is not from our local government. No one will come with a magic stick to treat head apartments.”

“As individuals, we need to be determined to build flexibility, create hope for our people and growth. Because policy has failed it is clear that we have failed.”