The Humansdorp community has called on the police to deploy members of the anti-gang unit in the town to fight crime.
The clarion call comes in the wake of a violent spate of killings, which left six people dead and others injured.
Four of the six people who died were teenagers, aged 17.
During a crime prevention prayer service at the Humansdorp High School on Friday, community members said the loss of one life was one too many.
They echoed the sentiment that the community should assist the police in fighting the scourge of crime.
Community Leader and Chairperson of the School Governing Body, Jacques Alexander, said residents live in fear.
"Send the anti-gang unit to Humansdorp. Not tomorrow, not next week, but today. We need these killings to stop.
"We are prepared to work with them. We will go to the gangsters' houses to break their walls down if we need to," he said.
The Provincial police commissioner in the Eastern Cape has set up a multi-disciplinary task team to swiftly trace and arrest those responsible for the murders.
