Johannesburg - In the aftermath of a fourth teenager’s necklacing on Thursday in Etwatwa in Ekurhuleni, mayor Mondli Gungubele has condemned the violence and called for restraint.
A task team led by the member of the mayoral committee for human settlements, Aubrey Nxumalo, has been established to restore peace in the area.
“We are appealing for calm in the area and calm from the community,” mayoral spokesman Zweli Dlamini told The Star this morning.
Irate residents have been on a rampage this week, hunting down members of a feared gang – popularly known as OVL – and killing them. The gang has been accused of terrorising Etwatwa residents.
Dlamini said according to some residents, it was formed to fight drugs, especially nyaope.
“They say it was created with good intentions but, over time, it turned to gangsterism.”
According to Ekurhuleni metro police department (EMPD) spokesman Clifford Shongwe, officers have been on high alert at schools this morning because the community has been targeting suspected OVL members leaving or coming to school.
“Yesterday (Thursday) a boy in his late teens, who is a suspected member of the gang, was beaten and then necklaced with a tractor tyre.”
The incident happened in the Mandela section of Etwatwa.
“At around 11.30am, EMPD were called to the scene by an anonymous community member. Upon arrival, we found the teenager burning. He was extinguished and rushed to hospital,” Shongwe said.
The teenager, believed to be 18 years old, is in a critical condition.
“His clothes were burnt on him and he was covered in blisters,” said Shongwe.
When journalists arrived at the scene with an EMPD escort on Thursday, community members became angry and demanded no photos be taken. They also demanded that the police stay away.
The unrest began on Sunday after a teenager was allegedly necklaced by members of the OVL gang.
It is believed that Etwatwa community members then necklaced twin boys, aged 16, and suspected members of OVL in retaliation.
The community is suspected of being involved in Thursday’s necklacing.
Necklacing was originally a practice used against suspected apartheid collaborators or informants in black townships during apartheid.
It was a style of torture and execution carried out by forcing a rubber tyre, filled with petrol, around a victim’s chest and arms and setting it on fire.
The mayor’s office added that more meetings with the community would take place on Friday and that a march against the killing of police officers, and against drugs and alcohol abuse, was planned for Saturday.
@lanc_02
The Star