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On Saturday, 19 August 2006, the funerals of Siobahn Waterson and Kevin Geswent took place at the Catholic Church in Ext.4, Eldorado Park. This beautiful, young couple were hijacked and murdered by ruthless killers, whom were known to them and also to the community in general.
A few community members, family and friends and NGO’s decided to stage an awareness march to show our solidarity with the families of these two youngsters. We also needed to let the people of Eldorado Park know that we had enough.
We proceeded to march from Ext 2, Union road, down Witteberg Road, then Arlberg Street, until we got to the Church, carrying our posters/placards, singing and chanting all the way. The Eldorado Park Police were also there to accompany us, and also to ensure that it was a peaceful march. Firstly, we marched around the perpetrators house, 7 times to try and “tear down the walls of Jericho!
The funny part was that instead of joining in, the people of Ext.2, stood and watched us as if we were crazy! What is wrong with our “coloured” people? No wonder we are called “draad sitters” or “sitting on the fence” by the rest of the inhabitants of this fine country of ours! Our People do not get involved, one lady said “Ek is bang vir hulle Pa” being the father of one of these ruthless killers.
The amazing thing is, that when we started out, there was only one guy who was brave enough to join in, and I commend him for that. But, he is a guy who also works in the community (NGO’s) and he was in exile in Denmark during the apartheid era, so as a result, he understands ‘passive resistance’ and so forth. However, when we got to the church and there were hundreds of people there, because it was one of the biggest funerals I have ever seen in Eldorado Park, (and I have been to many) did we get a few more “courageous” guys who joined in.
When the procession left the church, we proceeded down the Main Road, where we got lots of people to “Hoot” in solidarity and we created quite a stir. Our march ended at the Eldorado Park police station that afternoon.
At the end of the day we accomplished our objectives and truly believe that we got our message across. We are tired of these senseless killings of our youth by members of the community. Our kids complete their schooling, study and then go out to work for whatever their hearts desire. And then along come these murderers, who covet other people’s belongings without having worked for it.
What saddens me is that people look up to these ruthless killers/hijackers/car thieves and they are idolized in these communities. I noticed that a local website even uses some of these car thieves to model their merchandise. This is atrocious! Parents accept money from their kids who are unemployed, drive flashy cars, without ever questioning where the money comes from. At our schools, they sit outside the school gates waiting to ponder on gullible young girls, who like to ride home in a fancy car without realizing that someone could have been killed for the very car that is driving them home.
Teenage pregnancy has become a way of life in our communities/in our schools, etc. At first we all thought that these were just mistakes but there are too many of these mistakes continually going on and nobody is prepared to do anything about it.
When is it all going to end?. Our communities should learn to stand together as one (the only time this happens is when it is against the City Of Jhb for non-payment of services, which we have utilised!) !
*ED – Bruin-ou.com commends Gail and the community of Eldorado Park who took part in the march and it’s through initiatives like this that communities can eradicate crime from within. We will continue to publicise similar sorts of initiatives so if there is anything that is going on in your community then please bring it to our attention. If you know of any charitable organisations who could benefit from this sort of publicity then let us know and we will help wherever we can.
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