Pastor Andie Steele-Smith, left, with gang members in Cape TownPastor Andie Steele-Smith, left, with gang members in Cape Town

After decades of fighting each other, rival gangs around Cape Town have agreed a truce and are now working together to bring food to families starving because of the Covid-19 lockdown.

“What we’re seeing happen here is literally a miracle,” says Pastor Andie Steele-Smith, an Australian known as the ‘gang pastor’ who initiated the project and laid the groundwork for the truce.

The most notorious gangs in Fisantekraal and Manenberg, such as the Americans, the Jesters and the Clever Kidz, are distributing soap, food and other essentials to homes and soup kitchens.

The gangs also benefit, receiving food themselves, but their co-operation to help
others is unprecedented.

“Nobody in the community has ever seen these boys
walking side by side and working together and then having a chat and a meal or praying
together,” explains Steele-Smith.

Reporters from around the world, including the BBC, have covered this remarkable story.

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