Durban - The bodies of two South Coast men have been found badly burnt in a bakkie after a mob ambush near Scottburgh.
Simiso Hlongwa, 30, and Mduduzi Masinga, 33, of Bhakajane in the rural village of KwaCele, were driving with four men in a Nissan 1400 bakkie when they were ambushed by an armed mob on Saturday.
Four managed to escape.
“The two men were shot, placed in the rear of the bakkie and set alight,” police spokesman Colonel Jay Naicker said on Tuesday.
The attack occurred at about 1am. Two of the men who escaped had run to the Scottburgh police station where officers radioed the Dududu police at 3.20am to tell them of the attack, Naicker said.
The police station does not have a landline because of cable theft.
“Police found the completely burnt bodies of the deceased lying in the rear bin of the bakkie.”
One of the survivors had sustained a chop wound to his head and was taken to hospital.
A relative of one of the deceased, who did not want to be named because he feared for his safety, said on Tuesday that a survivor had told him they were accompanying a friend to his girlfriend’s house in the area.
He said they phoned the girlfriend on their way, but turned back home when the woman could not meet them because it was late.
“On their way back on the same route, the road had been blocked with trees.
“More than 10 men emerged and began shooting,” the relative said.
He said the driver turned the vehicle around and when they reached a steep hill, another three men emerged from the front carrying pangas, sticks and sjamboks.
“Another man emerged on the side of the road and hit the windscreen on the driver’s side with a rock.”
The bakkie stalled when the terrified driver lost control and the vehicle rolled backwards, coming to rest against the side of the road.
Three of the survivors were seated in the rear bin of the bakkie and the others were in the front.
The relative said he was told the mob surrounded the vehicle. The driver had tried to restart it.
“One of the guys asked what they had done and was suddenly hit with a panga in the head.”
He managed to escape and was found unconscious in the bushes the next day.
Hlongwa and Masinga had been shot, stoned, and hit with pangas.
“I don’t know if they were dead when they were set alight.”
The relative said locals knew of the bakkie because its owner ran a soccer team and a carpet business.
He said the survivors could not see their attackers because it was dark.
The attackers might have thought they were thieves because there had been reports of cattle and cable theft in the area, he said.
Daily News