Incidents of robbery and attacks on residents by gang members are reported almost on a daily basis, according to the residents of Epako.
Just three weeks ago, Ben Mutaleni, a schoolteacher at Winnie du Plessis High School, was hacked with a machete by suspected Skoonmakers (an Afrikaans word for cleaners) gang members at his bar in the informal settlement of the township.
Because of the severity of his injuries, he had to be rushed to Windhoek.
“We fear for our lives,” said Erica Petrus, Mutaleni’s sister who witnessed the incident on May 24.
She related that six boys came to the bar at dusk and started harassing customers.
When Mutaleni tried to stop the gang, he was slashed with a panga in the face. “His blood was running like water,” said Petrus, adding that the gang took nothing but appeared only intent on killing the owner.
Another gang member tried to stab Mutaleni with a knife but was stopped by a customer.
The gang apparently launched an attack on the good Samaritan and he too was beaten with bottles and kicked viciously.
Mutaleni is recuperating in a Windhoek hospital and has had to undergo surgery because the Gobabis hospital reportedly did a poor job when they stitched the wound.
“Now, they have to remove blood clots before they re-stitch the wound,” Petrus said.
According to Petrus, two gang members were arrested in connection with the incident while others are still at large. She added that on Saturday she saw two of the suspects at the same bar.
“Those guys are dangerous, wherever they are, they have knives and pangas,” she said, adding that they are having to close the bar early for fear of being attacked. Another young resident, who preferred anonymity because of fear for his life, said gangs in Epako started when the notorious G-Family gang that consists of school children from Epako High School and Winnie du Plessis High School, started beating, robbing and harassing learners at the schools and residents at the township.
Apparently, the G-Family attacked a “wrong” man from the Skoonmakers gang at a nightclub and the latter retaliated.
The Skoonmakers, who are mostly Damara-speaking, apparently started robbing and beating up residents of Herero block. This led to the “Skoffels” (shufflers), consisting of Herero-speaking boys attacking them in retaliation.
The young resident said another gang, calling itself Stukkend Maak (breakers), a breakaway faction of the Skoonmakers, has also been formed.
Another resident charged that the police are too weak to control the gangs.
“Sometimes they ask for help from Windhoek police,” said the resident, adding that Epako needs its own police station.
The resident reported that a few weeks ago, the Skoonmakers attacked a man, almost cutting off his genitalia and also undressed a woman on the street.
“They lie low and attack again,” he said. A police officer at the town, who did not want his name mentioned, said they had the situation under control.
“We are aware of the gangs. We have held meetings with them and told them it’s not the days of apartheid,” he said, referring to the tribal fight between the Skoffels and the Skoonmaker gangs.
Several meetings between the community and the police resolved that 24-hour patrols be effected in Epako. The community asked that if need be, members of the Namibian Defence Force be roped in.
Approached for comment, Omaheke Regional Commander, Bollen Sankwasa, shrugged off any suggestion that the situation in Epako is out of control.
“The situation is not out of hand, who told you that?” he thundered.
He downplayed the level of gangsterism in the town and denied claims that Gobabis Police have had to ask for assistance from Windhoek to subdue the gangsters.
Asked about the incident involving Mutaleni, he said it was an isolated incident, denoting that “unfortunately when people get drunk, they get violent”.
“What life threats are you talking about?” he asked, before telling New Era that he did not want to continue with the conversation.
