Cape Town - A Gugulethu church leader gathered his congregants and community members and walked to places where murders had been committed.
Pastor Vuyo Nyabaza of the Centre of Community Church in NY121 said that after six murders they decided to demonstrate their frustration on Saturday night.
“We started with just 12 people, but by the time we were done there were more than 30. We prayed and people came to join us, and we walked to where the murders happened and we said prayers there.
“Our aim was to ask God to intervene and put a stop to the blood spilling. The murder rate has gone up in a way we have never seen, and as Christians we had to look to the Bible and talk about what really is going on here.”
He said that in the past month six people had been gunned down.
“Two black young men were murdered next to the Gugulethu 7 monument at Steve Biko Road. Another two coloured young men were gunned down inside Somaflo flats where our church is situated. A Somali owner was shot at NY121, and the recent murder was of a young coloured man who was gunned down at the same shop where the Somali was killed,” he said.
Nyabaza hopes the march will help.
“People live in fear and the shops close earlier. The children are scared to play on the road. We have a responsibility to show the light in this darkness. We want to live in a society where violence ends and we live in harmony.”
The church is planning a bigger march on Wednesday.
“I was also involved in gangsterism and managed to get out of that life, and I mentor young boys. I'm trying to break this vicious crime of violence. I have a big heart for the young men because I understand them.
“I also tell the single moms to come to the church so we can help troubled youngsters. On Wednesday we will have a bigger prayer walk for our community because if we are going to change society, then we have to stand up,” Nyabaza said.
mandilakhe.tshwete@inl.co.za