programme, where former gang members "use their experiences to mediate gang disputes and help young men and women quit gang life. The gang violence escalated to the point where the South African National Defence Force had to be deployed to the gang-ridden areas of the Cape Flats to help the provincial police force deal with the increasing gang violence. A wide range of community empowerment organisations work non-violently to combat the poverty, crime and health problems, and the role of civil society in many parts of the area is relatively strong. Natural habitats on the Cape Flats Suburbs on the Cape Flats Athlone Bonteheuwel Hanover Park Khayelitsha Langa Lavender Hill Park Wood Ottery Manenberg Mitchells Plain Bishop Lavis Matroosfontein Macassar Gugulethu Strandfontein Nyanga Philippi Lotus See also References External links Cape Flats Details An extensive photojournalism project on the area and its people. Capeflats.org A personal web site with an overview of the language, politics and culture of the area. CAFDA The Cape Flats Development Association's website. Cape Flats tourism A government Cape Flats tourism initiative hopes to bring more visitors. CapeFlatsNature.org Organisation aims to organise impoverished residents to help sustain areas of biodiversity. CFNR The website of the Cape Flats Nature Reserve. ISS paper June 2003 paper on "The social contradictions of organised crime on the Cape Flats". The Cape Flats Website Geologic formations with imbedded sand dunes Geology of South Africa Geography of Cape Town Geologic formations of Africa