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CHILDREN armed with knives and pangas are stepping into the space left empty by a peace settlement between Hanover Park gangs last year.

School gangs have been involved in serious fights every day for the past three weeks, say Philippi police officers. One hot spot is just outside Summit Primary School, where young thugs target children walking home from Groenvlei High School.

"These children are running around armed with knives and pangas," says Captain Walter Prins, commander of the sector one policing area.

One group apparently calls itself the Wet Cats, while its rivals are called the Spoilt Brats. Another group refers to itself as the Flop Boys.

Police have not yet determined how the affiliation system works. Unlike the older gangsters, the boundaries of the children's gangs are not residentially determined, nor are they determined by the schools they attend.

Members of one group apparently all wear their hair slicked back, and have extra-large Kruger Rand earrings. The ages of the children vary; some are still in primary school, while others are in high school.

Besides their dress code, another chilling observation has been made. "Most of these children come from homes where the parents are drug dealers," says Prins.

The police have appealed to parents to try their best to escort their children, especially those who are at primary school, to and from school.

The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) says it is extremely disturbed at this new trend.

"Our Safe Schools programme has over the years worked very hard to ensure our schools are protected from threats from outside," says Gert Witbooi, WCED spokesperson.

"However, it seems the threats are now from inside our schools, and for this the parents of these children must take responsibility for the children's behaviour."

While parents must take responsibility, Witbooi says the department remains committed to establishing the best possible environment for learning and teaching in every school.

"We will step up our efforts in pursuit of quality education for all."

The root of the phenomenon may lay in several places, says Rick Fransman, senior manager of Childline.

He says it could be a lack of parental supervision, lack of communication between parents and children or because they have experienced trauma.

Places like Hanover Park are renowned for being under-resourced in many areas, including access to counselling or debriefing.

Often these children are acting out, because the trauma they experienced was never dealt with, Fransman says.

Even though the older gangs have settled down for now, children have already had their fair share of exposure to them.

"If they see gangsterism and violence to be normal, it becomes their reference point," Fransman says.

But regardless of their reasons for joining these mini-gangs, police have indicated they will not tolerate their actions. A stern warning has been issued by Prins and other officers to these would-be gangsters: "If you want to act like gangsters, you will be treated exactly the same as adult gangsters."

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