After a long and painful flight , we finally arrived in Cape Town at around 5.50 pm on Monday night.
The airports were empty and there were very few taxi's available at the airport. We heard that there was a football match on, Italy Vs Paraguay .
After a 15 - 20 min wait we eventually found a taxi driver who dropped us off at our apartment in Roland street. We quickly dumped our bags upstairs and got another taxi straight to Woolworths to buy some good South African food. Got home ate and passed out
On Wednesday morning we hooked up at Sinn's Bar at 9am with Lionel who had arrived the night before. We discussed when we would start shooting, which gangs have been confirmed, which areas
are save and which areas are no go areas at the moment. Shortly after meeting Lionel , we finally met up with the MyLife team Linzi ( the founder ) and Damian ( a recovered gangster and actor at present ) and Mpanda ( who is on bail after a 10 year sentence in Polsmoor Prison, but who still sleeps at Polsmoor every night) . An interesting bunch.
We got tons of info out of them , and they voiced there concerns for our project and also offered there full support with anything we needed. Initially Damian and Mpanda were going to come with us on all the days we were shooting, But Damian was a bit on edge with this idea and apologized but decided not to join us, for the shooting taking place in town, but would help us with anything else we needed.
Mpanda has agreed to come with us on certain days as he is still well connected. He told us he would help as much as he could, even though he was more connected in the black gangs than in the colored gangs. they insisted we shoot most of the footage in studio as this was a lot safer than going into the gang's areas in the Cape Flats. Unfortunately for us we have to shoot most of the footage on location as this is a way more interesting angle to tackle, in terms of lighting, shadows and real life situations.
So Lionel our gang organizer has arranged 2 guys who are well respected among the gangs, to come with us on the days that we're shooting, to keep an eye on the situation and prevent any bad situations from arising.
They explained that the gang situation is out of control at the moment, because the gangs are so heavily involved in the drug TIK. Tik is a South African local name for Crystal meth. Most of the Tik users come from Mitchells Plein and 81% are taken by coloured men around 20 years of age.
Tik fucks up your mind, its makes you aggressive, desperate and on edge 24 / 7 if the drug is overused, and unfortunately a huge percentage of these gangs are addicted to this drug.The reason it targets the younger nation is because in the beginning stages of use its increases confidence and your sense of power.
The 2 young South African actors that were kidnapped in Camps Bay a few years ago and were taken outside of town and shot, were killed by a gang of guys who were on a 7 day Tik taking spree.
They hadn't slept for days and were out of control, and these two young boys were at the wrong place at the wrong time, and fell victim to Tik abuse
At the moment there are talks in the S.A government about legalizing prostitution. Young girl prostitution is crazy. There are places where older men get young girls addicted to Tik, and demand sex for drugs. They call it a Tollie for a Lollie . ( i guess you can imagine what that means ) .
Some of these girls are aged 9-12 years old, and the men ... anywhere between 30 and 50 years old.
I dont quite know where this is happening but i guess its probably happening everywhere and right under our noses ( which could mean anywhere if you count my nose into the equation) .
MyLife has an office in Maynard street, and just last week they were held up by gunpoint by a group of guys. Luckily Damian and Mpanda were there to calm the situation and the armed men left there offices without anyone getting hurt. There has also been tons of violent crimes in the last couple of weeks, but due to strict instructions, media hasn't heard a thing or hasn't been allowed to publish anything due to South Africa hosting the football.
I also found out that the underground ( literally under the mothercity is a dark unknown city of tunnels) crime situation is huge in Cape Town. There is a building that is directly behind Longstreet cafe, its called the Senator Park building that is packed with Nigerian gangsters. They supply the drug trade in Cape Town, and are above the law. The police are to scared to raid, or they have been bribed to stay away. Recently someone I know went in there with police to get something that had been stolen from them and discovered a dead woman in the apartment where the stolen item was. The blood was black, but the police denied that she was dead, only because they were scared to get involved. On the way down from the apartment, there were streaks of blood and vomit on the walls and shit all over the passage ways, with children on some sort of drug that made them run up and down the stairs in a crazed sort of way.
It sounds like a scene out of a movie. A movie that i would love to watch and research but have no time unfortunately.
Anyway, thought i would pass on my stories to you all, and hope you find it as interesting as i do.
I have always been interested in the underground crime movements of various cities. It amazes me how organized it is, and how involved the police really are.
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