Boy, 8, killed in gang gun battle

Brandon van der mescht

IN TEARS: Junaid Mckenzies sister, Shamiela Mckenzie (left), and Junaids mother, Mariam Mckenzie, fondly remember the little boy who was gunned down during a gang fight. Photo: Brandon van der Mescht

Lauren Isaacs

IT WAS about 7pm on Wednesday when the McKenzie family heard gunshots outside their Steenberg home.

They saw several children, except eight-year-old Mogamat Junaid Mckenzie, run to safety.

He was one of two people caught in the deadly gangster crossfire in Melody Square, Steenberg.

He was shot in the head and died in hospital three hours later.

A 34-year-old woman is recovering in hospital from bullet wounds to her leg.

The boy’s mother, Mariam Mckenzie, sat silently, tears streaming down her face as the rest of her household bustled about with family members preparing for her son’s burial yesterday.

Other family members sat at the park in the middle of the square, waiting for his body to be returned from the mortuary.

Still too distraught to speak, Mariam McKenzie asked her daughter, Shamiela Mckenzie, to tell the Cape Times of their ordeal.

“Yesterday (Wednesday), Junaid had been playing in the park opposite our house with friends. This was the norm.

“The bigger boys would be outside playing dominoes while the younger ones played with a ball.

“We heard gunshots and ran out to find Junaid on the ground.”

Mckenzie said she ran to find transport to rush her brother to the local day hospital.

“From there we went to Red Cross. My brother was alive, he was breathing.

“But after three hours he died,” she said as she started to cry.

Junaid’s mother remained quiet and looked down throughout the interview.

But, when asked what their fondest memories of Junaid were, she looked up smiling: “He was always hungry. Always wanted food or money for something to eat.”

She added that Junaid, a Grade 2 pupil at Steenberg Primary, had been an active boy who loved to have fun.

And when he wasn’t playing outside with his friends, he enjoyed watching cartoons.

Shamiela McKenzie said they were used to gang shoot-outs in Melody Square.

“It’s these gangsters. They must be stopped because innocent children are getting hurt.

“And the police don’t patrol here because they are just as scared of these gangsters,” she said.

A neighbour, Nadine Playton, said the wars were between The Junkie Funky Kids and The Corner Boys.

“I am too scared to leave for work in the mornings.

“I am too scared to return because we don’t know what we have in store for us,” she added.

At a police briefing yesterday, provincial police commissioner Arno Lamoer said that, in the last three months, the Western Cape had:

l 5 413 drug-related convictions;

l 75 murder convictions;

l 23 attempted murder; and

l 57 cases related to the possession of unlicensed firearms.

However, the figures were not limited to gang-related crimes, he said.

Lamoer said that to control gang violence police planned to deploy additional officers, work closely with metro police and continue raiding notorious gang “hot spots”.

lauren.isaacs@inl.co.za