Cape Town in grip of fear

KILLINGS: GANG VIOLENCE EXPLODES IN CAPE FLATS GANGLANDS, POLICE OVERWHELMED

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A streak of killings in South Africa's dangerous ganglands in Cape Town has led to communities demanding protection as city officials say they lack the resources to stop the violence. "One gangster, one bullet," scores chanted at a recent march led by an anti-gang group in the sprawling Cape Flats area after authorities recorded 59 murders over seven days last month.

"Our communities are fearful," said Cape Flats Safety Forum activist Lynn Phillips at a new protest last weekend.

"We don't have to switch on Netflix to hear gun violence. We sleep, we eat and we wake up with gun violence."

The toll is "deeply alarming," said municipal safety official Jean-Pierre Smith during a nighttime patrol of another part of the neglected stretches of a city that attracts hordes of tourists to lush suburbs less than 20km away.

"We do have a massive spike at the moment" in a murder rate that already averages about 300 every three months, Smith said, citing leadership and turf battles between gangs involved in drugs and extortion.