A MASIPHUMELELE community activist who has been battling drug dealers in the area is recovering in hospital after suspected gangsters kicked down the door of his shack and fired several shots, hitting him twice.
Sibusiso Brown had been asleep with his partner, Nolubabalo Majola, and their one-year-old baby daughter yesterday morning, at around 2am, when three men forced their way into the tiny shack in the Wetlands informal settlement.
Majola said she was woken by the sounds of banging at the door, and before she could ask who it was the gunmen had already kicked in the door and entered the shack.
“They started shooting randomly. I moved to shield my baby and lay on top of her. All I could think of was my baby, luckily she was not injured. They shot Sbu (Brown), but he was lucky it was dark and the gunmen did not know where we were sleeping,” said Majola.
The men fired several shots, hitting Brown in his ankle and buttocks, and then fled. Majola said she and Brown pretended to be dead.
Police spokesperson Frederick van Wyk said an attempted murder case was being investigated. He said no arrests had been made.
Majola said she suspected Brown was targeted because he had been vocal about stopping drug dealing in Masiphumelele.
Last week members of the Masiphumelele community allegedly cornered and beat up robbery and drug-dealing suspects. This raised the ire of the drug dealers, according to Majola, who pointed a finger at Brown, who is an associate of community leader Lubabalo Vellem, who is a co-accused in the murder of a 14-year-old. The case is currently in court.
A community leader who is known to the Cape Times but who wanted to remain anonymous said community leaders were being targeted by drug dealers because they were vocal and raided drug dens.
“We chase drug dealers away, but they keep coming back, and now they are targeting certain individuals,” she said.