Former 28s gang boss a peace ambassador
A former leader of the 28s gang has joined forces with Kensington teachers and community members in a bid to curb crime in the area. [Video]
|||Cape Town - A former leader of the 28s prison numbers gang has joined forces with Kensington school teachers and community members in a bid to curb crime in the area.
The first group of ambassadors from the Kensington peace training programme will graduate on Monday night after “an intensive module”. The programme is a pilot project of the Kensington Ratepayers Association.
Each of the 20 people, who were part of the training, are expected to now train their own group of 10 people in “gang peacekeeping and mediation” by the end of the year.
Programme co-ordinator Brian Williams, referring to the 2014 crime statistics for the area, said: “We are saddened by the sense of hopelessness caused by killing and violence. For 30 years there has been an uninterrupted pattern of violence.
“The last crime statistics showed that in our area there had been 705 reports of drug dealing and 37 murders and attempted murders.”
These statistics exclude domestic violence and sexual assault.
Former 28s prison gang leader Magadien Wentzel, who was the central focus of the book ‘The Number’ by Jonny Steinberg, said he was trying to change lives by being part of the programme.
Wentzel was arrested for public violence during the apartheid era and, while in prison, joined the 28s gang, becoming one its most prominent leaders.
“I made a mistake by joining the gang,” he said.
Four years prior to his release in 2003, Wentzel said he had a change of heart and wanted to do good.
“I was offered a double-storey house in a posh suburb, cars, money, cocaine and tik; but I refused these,” he said.
“I wanted to become a proper grandfather and teach my grandkids right from wrong. I wanted to learn from my mistakes.”
Wentzel said it has been difficult to continue with his life while, at the same time, being tempted back to a life of crime.”I would lie if I didn’t say that there wasn’t a day I had questioned why I left the gang.”
Wentzel said through this programme he would be able to recruit other former gang members and they, in turn, would recruit their own group to join the peace and mediation initiative. “I want to teach the children that life in the gang is not fun and you can sort out differences without having to be part of a gang, without violence.”
A resident, who asked not to be named, has already used some of the “peace mediating tactics”.
“A boy sprayed painted my front and garage doors. Fortunately, I have cameras installed, and thus we were able to identify and locate him.”
The mediator, together with the boy’s school principal, “punished” the boy by making him join “a cleaning programme” and in return enrolled him for a mentorship in graffiti art.
The boy was granted permission to paint a mural on one of the school walls.
zodidi.dano@inl.co.za
Cape Argus