BULLETPROOF glass playgrounds are to be built in South Africa to protect kids from gang shootouts.
The secure play areas will be fitted with facial recognition and panic buttons to keep the violent gangsters out.
As heavily armed criminals rampage the streets of South Africa, children often become a “collateral damage” in the fight for territory.
Innocent kids get caught up in the wayward of bullets in the middle of townships while the nation struggles with gun violence.
In the past 20 years, nearly half of the children in the hospitals of Cape Town with gun-shot wounds were victims of crossfire, according to research.
Most schools install bulletproof mesh around their perimeter fences while teachers instruct pupils to get under the desks at the first sounds of shots.
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But children are still unprotected outside of the school territory when they walk home or go to playgrounds.
To combat the widespread issue, Gun Free SA – an NGO battling gun violence – introduced its prototype of the Bulletproof Park Project.
The concept images reveal a bulletproof glass cube which is equipped with panic buttons and a hotline to the police.
Around 24 children will be able to safely play on the swings, slides and sandpit at a time under the watch of security cameras.
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The entrances will be manned by parents and only those who are registered on the facial recognition system will be granted access.
GFSA director Adele Kirsten said: “We have been campaigning for 25 years to eradicate the root cause of this problem which is guns on the streets but things have got worse and we are plagued by gang violence.
“The Bulletproof Park is a quite outrageous solution to an outrageous problem but until the police remove illegal guns and destroy them we have to take action to bring real change.”
The solar-powered playground will first open in the Mitchell’s Plain area of Cape Town where many deaths of children were reported.
The project is estimated to cost £425,000 to build – a small price for the lives of kids.
In comparison, the medical treatment for gunshot victims was some £260million in 2014 alone.
To protect kids walking to and from schools, the NGO is also developing bulletproof vests.
Kirsten added: “The simple more viable and sensible solution is a more robust system to get guns off the street and destroy them but until then we have to act to keep our children safe.”
The NGO said it is “scandalous” that they have even had to design such parks but said that plans will be put forward to the City of Cape Town for approval later this year.
Cape Flats Safety Forum chairperson Abie Isaacs expressed support for the project, saying: “The communities are plagued by gang violence and many parents fear their children will be struck by a gang bullet.
“We welcome the proposals as we believe parks should be a safe space for children and right now our parks have become the homes for gangs to carry out their activities.”
Armed bandits usually compete for drugs and territory in poverty-ridden townships where children have nowhere to play safely.
Criminologist Guy Lamb said: “Given the township areas in which these things happen, houses are small so lots of children are playing out in the streets because they don’t have any gardens.
“Gangsters are shooting randomly and wildly so children get caught in the crossfire.”
According to a research at a single A&E, 163 children were admitted for firearm-related injuries between 2001 and 2010 at the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital in Cape Town.
Of those, 63 were accidentally struck in a shootout, and 30 more went straight to the mortuary.
Eastern Cape Department of Education spokesman Mr Malibongwe Mtima confirmed the shocking statistics and said they would be spending an extra £3million on upping security.
Gun Free SA said: “In the year 2022/3 some 11,300 people were killed by firearms with 10% of those gang related with too many victims young children hit by stray bullets.”
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The latest victim of the horrific gang crossfire killings was Zamawushe Momoti, 16, who was shot dead at her school gates on Friday when a bullet hit her in the face.
She stumbled back past the Belgravia High School gates in Cape Town and died in a puddle of blood while the gunfight raged on.
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Aiya Zhussupova
