Cape Town - Foreigners who went on a manhunt for killers of a Congolese man in Hout Bay are now allegedly being threatened by a gang of “young criminals”.
The gang have been terrorising the community of Imizamo Yethu, where 27-year-old Nchikala Ngoy was robbed and murdered.
Ngoy moved from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to South Africa a year ago and had been studying business economics.
Three men robbed Ngoy on his way home from Hout Bay Library on Wednesday last week.
He was stabbed eight times in the back and head and left for dead in Main Road just metres from the police station.
A 25-year-old man, believed to be Malawian, and an 18-year-old were also stabbed to death in Imizamo Yethu last month.
The incidents left foreigners in the area seething and a group were seen storming through the informal settlement looking for Ngoy’s killers on Thursday.
Zimbabweans, Ghanaians, Malawians, Ugandans, Angolans and Congolese swept through the area, beating up an 18-year-old before handing him over to police.
Geoffrey Kavuma, 29, a Ugandan who spoke on behalf of the foreigners, said on Saturday that members of the local gang had threatened to attack the foreigners who had gone on a manhunt last week.
“They told us they will come looking for us and that they were trying to find out where we live.
“Everything is fine with the locals here, but it’s just these thugs who are targeting us,” he said.
Ngoy’s brother Valery told the Cape Times that the “young thugs” were being protected by their families.
He said the gang targeted locals and foreigners, but that locals do not get stabbed or injured because the gangsters feared being necklaced.
Imizamo Yethu Community Policing Forum (CPF) deputy chairperson Vincent Sodlala said the CPF was aware of a gang of under-18s in the area.
“I can imagine that these young criminals have now made threats. They are minors who need help because they are addicted to drugs and have now turned to crime.
“The drugs, their rehabilitation and the social issues here need to be addressed,” Sodlala said.
Western Cape Community Safety MEC Dan Plato visited the community on Friday.
“We all need to ask ourselves what we, individually, can do to help make my own immediate environment safer. I urge our communities to use the available structures like the neighbourhood watches and the community policing forums,” he said.
Police spokesperson Thembinkosi Kinana said three men “aged between 18 and 19” are to appear in court on Monday on murder charges.
* UCT has pointed out that Nchikala Ngoy was not a student there as reported, but his family insists he was