Durban - In just 30 minutes, 16 people were left dead in two callous shootings and a horrific crash in Ezakheni township, Ladysmith, on Saturday night.
It is believed that a case of mistaken identity was to blame for the deadly sequence of events.
It began in Pieters Road at about 5.30pm when a group of heavily armed men pursued a Gauteng-registered grey Mercedes-Benz with five women in it.
It is believed the women had been to a wedding in the township’s E section and were trying to find their way out when the gunmen followed them and opened fire.
Two passengers in the Mercedes were shot. One was killed instantly and the other died in hospital. The three other women were recovering in hospital on Sunday night.
A taxi, going into the township from the Ladysmith CBD, tried to avoid the cars and bullets and collided with an oncoming truck.
Four taxi passengers died at the scene and five more died in hospital later.
Thirty minutes later, five men were gunned down outside a car wash.
Ladysmith mayor Vincent Madlala said initial reports suggested that the attack on the Mercedes could have been a case of mistaken identity.
He said: “We are told that the people who shot the Mercedes walked towards the car, then seemed to realise they got the wrong people.”
After realising they had attacked the wrong car, the gunmen got back into their car and drove to the township’s D section.
“There they found men near a white Isuzu bakkie (outside the car wash) and opened fire on them, killing five instantly,” he said.
“Another man was injured but managed to escape. A house opposite the car wash was sprayed with bullets, breaking windows and damaging walls.”
The five killed at the car wash were identified as Makhekhe Mathebula, Menzi Mvelase, Muzi Dlamini, Sfungo Dlamini and Mlungisi Dlamini.
“Mvelase and Mathebula were taxi drivers from Mcitsheni (a rural village),” said Madlala.
He said there had been a number of shootings in the area over the past month and a half.
Police spokesman Thulani Zwane was reluctant to say if the events were related.
However, provincial Transport and Community Safety MEC Willies Mchunu gave a strong indication that the shootings could be linked, saying “the modus operandi made it difficult” to rule out the possibility.
Zwane said spent R5 and 9mm cartridges were found at the car wash scene.
Police were investigating 10 counts of culpable homicide opened at the Ladysmith police station relating to the first incident.
“Five counts of murder were opened at Ezakheni police station,” he said.
KZN Emergency Medical Services spokesman Robert McKenzie said paramedics found “chaos” at the scene.
“Five people, including a young child, were declared dead at the scene by the paramedics... the fatalities were all female and four were from the minibus, while the driver was also killed,” he said.
Paramedics had to use the jaws of life to extricate people trapped in the crumpled minibus.
Mchunu dispatched a high-level delegation to investigate.
The delegation, led by Madlala, were briefed by local police and the Road Traffic Inspectorate management.
Provincial police commissioner Lieutenant-General Mmamonye Ngobeni appealed for the community to work with the police in solving the cases by providing information that would lead to the arrest of the perpetrators.
Mchunu said that a briefing he received from the delegation indicated the community was gripped by fear.
He appealed to people to “leave the matter in the capable hands of the police and to resist the temptation to retaliate”.
Premier Senzo Mchunu said:
“We view the re-emergence of violence in Ladysmith as intolerable. We will do everything in our power to ensure that such destructive behaviour is nipped in the bud.”
The Mercury