Westbury residents, faith leaders to march against gang violence

Residents and faith leaders of Westbury and surrounding areas are expected to march to the Gauteng Provincial Legislature on Friday over rampant gang violence in the area.

The march will be led by African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) City of Johannesburg mayoral candidate Bishop Dulton Adams.

A memorandum of demands will be handed over to Premier Panyaza Lesufi, as well as Mayor Dada Morero.

The protestors are calling for a local state of disaster to be declared under the Disaster Management Act of 2002.

Bishop Adams says the declaration of a local state of disaster will provide a coordinated, well-funded approach to dealing with the crisis.

“The Disaster Management Act enables all the different departments, all the security clusters, everything that pertains to the needs of the community holistically. So, you’re talking about safety, stability, economic development, school safety. It’s a myriad of things that the disaster management act actually allows to be done. And the reason why I came with this decision was because the community is under siege and we want them to come in with the community, with the faith leaders, everybody working together.”