Durban – Quiet sobs could be heard through the windows of the small rondavel in Richmond on Monday, where four people were killed at the weekend.
Cecelia Chiliza, 60, Dumisani Chiliza, 35, Nkosikhona Masango, 27, and 11-year-old Noxolo Dawood were all killed by gunmen who stormed their rondavel and opened fire on Saturday night.
They were holding a Zulu cultural ceremony, called Iladi, to remember the dead, at the time.
Two young children who were also there survived by running away and hiding.
Relatives and residents on Monday gathered at the home to meet Transport and Community Safety MEC Mxolisi Kaunda and a high level delegation from his department.
The MEC and his team spoke with the family and prayed with them for several hours.
Speaking to the press afterwards, Kaunda said those living in the rural farming hamlet in the heart of the Midlands were in a state of shock.
He said the area had been hard hit by violence in previous years, but that the situation had recently stabilised.
The locals were afraid, Kaunda said, and they did not feel safe. His department had asked local police to intensify their visibility in the area.
Kaunda pleaded with the community not to take the law into their own hands and seek revenge.
Details around the attack were on Monday still scant.
Investigations were ongoing, Kaunda said, and the authorities were in the process of gathering information.
But, he explained, the family was severely traumatised and the authorities did not want to place them under pressure, so social workers had been brought in to provide them with counselling.
“We do have some leads and we are hoping they will yield results,” Kaunda said.
He could not confirm whether or not the attack was related to faction fighting.
Quinton Dawood – whose grandmother, uncle, cousin and niece were the victims – said on Monday that he felt alone. “It’s just my brother and I now,” he said.
He was afraid that the gunmen would return and said they “came to kill”.
“Nothing was taken,” he said.
He felt the healing process would be a lengthy one.
His sister – whose little girl, Noxolo, was killed – was “doing okay”, Dawood said.
There would be a funeral for the victims at a local sports ground this weekend.