Madam Deputy Speaker, the ANC condemns the cowardly murders by Mitchells Plain gangsters of innocent community members. Recently, community police forum street committee members on voluntary night guard duty were killed and wounded by bullets sprayed in the dark. On 11 September 2009 a defenceless wheelchair-confined father of three, Mr Vincent Naidoo, was killed in cold blood in Westridge. A few days ago, on 9 October 2009, grandfather Mervyn Jacobs, a street committee chairperson, was shot dead in Tafelsig. In speaking to Ms Jacobs, she informed me that her husband had recently sent a young man for tik rehabilitation.
We thank the national Minister of Police who visited the area yesterday, together with the MEC in the Western Cape. The Minister visited the police and the families of the deceased, and also spoke to representatives of the 40 000-strong street committee in Mitchells Plain. We congratulate the police on arresting the possible suspects.