Johannesburg - Eight-year-old Xhanti Xesha had left home for a haircut. Moments later, he lay dead on the roadside.
The boy was one of three children who fell victim to a series of hit-and-runs by a drunk driver at the Sol Plaatje low-cost settlement in Roodepoort on Sunday morning.
A woman and another child were also seriously injured.
Angry residents then took a man, believed to have been the driver, to the spot where the victims had died and beat him to death.
The series of accidents started at 12.30pm on Sunday when three men, who neighbours said were from outside the community, drove a grey Honda from Section D of Sol Plaatje to Section E.
An eyewitness said the men were driving very fast when they hit an elderly woman walking on the side of the road.
Instead of stopping, the driver sped up on the narrow dirt road in a bid to escape.
About 200m down the road, he collided with four children between the ages of three and eight, three of whom were killed.
Again, instead of stopping, the driver continued along the road.
A large crowd that had witnessed the accidents pursued the car.
The man drove up an rocky stretch of road awash with rubbish and boulders. At the top of the hill, about 600m from where he had hit the children, his car stalled.
A woman in a nearby tuckshop said the car had made a loud spluttering noise before stopping. The three men jumped out of the car, with the crowd in hot pursuit.
A few minutes later, the residents captured the man they believed to have been the driver of the vehicle and dragged him back.
At the same spot where the three people had lost their lives, he was beaten to death.
A man said he could not describe how big the crowd had been, but gestured to the houses around him, saying: “We were all there.”
Late on Sunday afternoon, Xhanti’s family came to examine the spot where he had died.
His grandfather, Mandla Xesha, said his grandson had been on his way to get a haircut. He remembered him as a hyperactive and handsome child.
“When you sent him to the shops, he would hurry and be back quickly. He liked to play soccer,” said Xesha.
He said the family, originally from Dobsonville, would discuss plans for a funeral on Sunday night.
An eyewitness said car accidents were rare in the area, but appealed for speed humps to be put on the road.
Joburg metro police department spokesman Chief Superintendent Wayne Minnaar said they had found empty beer bottles as well as half-empty bottles of gin, whisky and brandy in the car, and believed the men had been drinking.
Police spokesman Warrant officer Daniel Mavimbela said no arrests had been made. Culpable homicide, reckless and negligent driving, as well as murder cases, were being investigated.
The Star