Cape Town - A child from Samora Machel near Philippi died when he was knocked down by a car as he tried to escape a group of boys who hurled stones at him and his friends.
Sivuyile Mase, 10,
was killed on the R300 freeway on Saturday. Two friends said a group of boys from Colorado Park on the other side of the freeway had been chasing them.
“The boys were bigger than us and we were scared of them,” said one of the boys.
Sivuyile’s grandmother, Kholiwe Mase, said there had been rivalry between boys from the two neighbourhoods for some time.
“It’s about turf. They don’t want boys from other neighbourhoods walking in their neighbourhoods. Even here in Samora, boys will fight to keep their territory,” she said.
The two friends, both 11, were still shocked.
Police spokesman FC van Wyk said: “According to the driver of the vehicle, she was driving in the slow lane when she saw a group of young boys crossing the road. She tried to swerve to avoid the boys
.”
Relatives gathered at the Mase house on Sunday to mourn. They spoke about a funeral in the Eastern Cape.
Kholiwe Mase said she was at church when her niece brought her the bad news.
“I went to the R300 and saw his body covered in a white sheet. I couldn’t believe that that was my grandson lying there,” Kholiwe said. She said that Sivuyile was a good boy who loved to play soccer.
His mother, Sisiwe Mase, held up her son’s picture. She was too distraught to speak.
Cape Times