Cape Town has a long history of poverty, unemployment, crime, drugs, prostitution and gang culture. Mothers are shedding helpless tears for their murdered sons, fathers are helpless in the face of uncanny odds as gangs recruit youngsters, both boys and girls. there appears to be no hope to save these youngsters from the darkness of evil amid weak government legislation and penal codes to deal with harsh crimes.
The death penalty has been outlawed when the country turned democratic in 1994. But one man is making a tremendous difference, and he is Dan Plato, a lone figure who fights tirelessly to try and prevent young children under 16 in becoming criminals. He has succeeded in converting more than 10 000 young gangsters into crime preventative programs.
Government official a lone crusader against gangsters
Dan Plato (55) is the Western Cape minister of community safety and is a lone crusader against gangsters and drugs which ravages the poorer communities. He has embarked on a solitary mission of converting hardened gangsters in Cape Town in South Africa towards the church.
Blasting News has accompanied this man on many of his missions in the townships where he single-handedly encounters dangerous gangsters, murderers, drug lords and gang bosses. He told our reporter the church and the mosque is the last frontier against the cynical and sinister plague of the Devil, that evil has become victorious against good. This he says is due to drugs, poverty, unemployment and illiteracy. Plato has a full program which he has initiated through his governmental department. He is a member of the Democratic Alliance (DA) which governs the Western Cape.
Programs to prevents gangster activities amongst kids
Plato has put in place school holiday programs for both high and primary school children and he forks out millions of dollars to see that each child is looked after for each school holiday.
He works through the church, community organizations and governmental institutions. After careful perusal it was concluded he has been fairly successful in minimizing gangster elements on the Cape Flats (townships in Cape Town). Plato told Blasting News in confidence most of his colleagues in his party told him why would he bother with "the scum of society"? His answer was he is doing the work of God to help heal the ailing impoverished poorer communities in Cape Town. Whilst the Blasting News reporter was accompanying Plato one Saturday evening a few months ago it was within one single evening that he attended three separate murder scene on the Cape Flats. All three murders where underage children who are members of gangsters.
I have seen this man shed tears out of concern for -- as he calls them -- the lost children of God.
Crime report
A recent report from the Mexican Council for Public Security and Criminal Justice indicates Cape Town is considered the most violent city in the entire world and is among the top most dangerous cities worldwide. It reports the 50 most violent cities on earth. Last year, Cape Town registered a staggering 2,451 homicides within a population of 3,74-million people. It gives a rating of 65,53 per 100 000 people.