HELENVALE - MMUSI MAIMANE GIVES HIS VIEWS ON GANGSTERISM DURING VISIT TO NELSON MANDELA BAY METRO

Gang violence is ravaging the Nelson Mandela Bay area, Democratic Alliance leader Mmusi Maimane said in Helenvale on Sunday.

"The ripple effect of gangsterism and the damage it causes is felt throughout our communities. And its effects are more serious that we care to admit," said Maimane in a statement released, following a visit to the area.

He was accompanied by the party's mayoral candidate, Athol Trollip.

Maimane said both victims and offenders, as well as their families, were deeply affected by this kind of criminal activity.

"It affects the parents of children that are caught in the crossfire while enjoying the innocence of their youth playing on the streets…

"It affects young people who, out of desperation, are dragged into gangsterism and drug addiction, which ends up destroying their lives and robbing them of their potential and their destiny."

Maimane said that the cycle of "unemployment, poverty, desperation, drugs, gangsterism and violence" had to be broken.

"True freedom" could only come when residents felt safe to move about in their own neighbourhoods, the opposition leader said.

VIA - news24.com