Maulana Nazeem Samsodien is part of a team running 38 Madrassas, catering for the needs of 2 000 kids, across the Cape Flats. Through this project they hope to offer the kids safe refuge after school from the killing streets
Nearly 100 people are killed in gang-related violence monthly in the Western Cape, the latest crime statistics have revealed.
Released at the end of 2025, the numbers also reveal that 90% of all gang-related murders take place in the Western Cape, despite the province making up less than 12% of the national population.
Gang activity is concentrated across the Cape Flats, but mainly in areas such as Manenberg, Hanover Park, Elsies River and Mitchells Plain.
Most worrying from the stats, is that 472 children under the age of 17 were murdered on the Cape Flats between 2020 and 2025, 157 of them have been confirmed as gang-related.
In Manenberg on the Cape Flats, considered the epicentre of gang violence, shootings have become commonplace and sadly many of those killed are inncocent people caught in the crossfire, as rival gangs engage in turf wars.
The challenge is real and the answers are never easy. Activists and community leaders constantly struggle to keep youth out of gangs.
Madrassas have a degree of success in turning the tide, but when class is out, children return to an environment where youth are exposed to gangsterism most of the time.
Someone close to what’s happening is Moulanah Nazeem Samsodien who was raised in Manenberg after his family moved there in 1960.
Moulanah Nazeem is part of Makaatib Raghmaaniyyah a group of madrassas with 38 branches and teaching more than 2 000 children across the Cape Flats, including Khayelitsha.
Masjidul Mujaahiddeen where Moulanah Nazeem serves is located in the heartland of the Americans. Despite ongoing gang activity in Manenberg, many gangsters send their children to madrassa. They would even check whether their kids really attended, Moulanah Nazeem said.
Criminologist Irvin Prof Irvin Kinnes, of the Criminology Department at the University of Cape Town, believes that the issue of gangs needs a much broader strategy than has been historically implemented. This he believes should include socio-economic issues rife on the Cape Flats