Cape Town - Petrol bombs were hurled at a house occupied by young children in the early hours of on Tuesday in Tafelsig, resulting in three other shacks in the backyard being completely destroyed, leaving 15 people without a roof over their heads.
A second house next door also caught fire.
Homeowner Wayne Koopman, 47, said he managed to escape unhurt with six of the other occupants in the house, including a 7-year-old child, but that the house had caught fire. He said he had heard that rival gangs were fighting over turf in the neighbourhood and chasing each other on the streets.
The turf fight, which started just after midnight allegedly between the Americans gang and the Hustlers gang, according to Koopman, is not the first in the area over the past two weeks.
He said the Hustlers came to the area looking for the Americans, but the Americans chased them away.
Koopman alleged that on their way out of the area, the Hustlers threw three petrol bombs at his house.
“I feel very bad about what happened because I am not involved with any gang. Now I must fix my house, even though I have no money because I am unemployed
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“The winter season is approaching and I am going to feel the cold. Where I am going to get the building material I don’t know,” said Koopman.
He said three shacks that belonged to his backyarders were completely burnt to the ground.
“It is a sad story to tell,” he said.
One of the shack owners, Eric Xalisa, 39, said the incident was shocking and that he and his girlfriend could have died.
“We could save nothing from the shack. When we woke up, the shack was already in flames and we ran outside and shouted for help.”
There were three people inside the shack when it caught fire, he said. “How can people be so cruel and do such a thing to people that have nothing to do with what they wanted,” asked Xalisa.
Reggie Mathews, owner of the second RDP house that caught fire, said he lost all his possessions.
He said it was sad when the gangs were fighting and innocent people were caught in the middle. He said there were five children in the house at the time of the incident.
“They must fight their battles far from the people,” said Mathews.
Police spokesman Frederick van Wyk said there was no record of the incident so he was not able to comment. He asked that further queries be directed to his colleague, Tembinkosi Kinana.
Kinana said he also tried to call the police station in question, but was told there was no record of the incident.
Koopman said it was surprising that the police had no record of the incident. “The police came to the scene in the morning and in the afternoon,” he said.
Cape Times