Cape Town - The mother of a man killed by a vigilante mob in Kanana informal settlement says her son was a “good boy” led astray by the wrong crowd.
Eddie Raqa, 18, was on Tuesday accosted by a mob, beaten, had bricks hurled at him and set alight.
“He was my youngest child, and he had helped me since I had a stroke and couldn’t do the housework any more,” said Florence Sirathaza of her son.
“Just yesterday he spent all day in the yard – fixing things, cleaning and making it look nice. He wanted to be a builder because he was good with his hands. I raised him, he was not violent and always polite.”
Community members claimed he had tried to mug a woman, who was on her way to work, near the Valhalla Drive, N2 intersection.
“The woman ran, and he ran after her. When people heard her screaming in among the shacks they came out. Eddie didn’t have a chance, by then it was too late to run away. It was chaos,” said resident and witness Mzukho Bruintjies.
Raqa’s body was identified by his brother-in-law, who recognised his takkies.
The police have apparently asked his mother for a blood sample to confirm the identity.
Bruintjies said early morning muggings were commonplace in Kanana and that the community was fed up.
“If the police won’t patrol to stop this crime then the community will carry on taking matters into their own hands,” she warned.
After news of Raqa’s death spread, friends and family gathered outside Sirathaza’s shack where she lives with her three other children.
Holding a photograph of Raqa, she wept when asked about the killing. “Oh umntanami, umntanami (my child, my child),” she cried.
Shortly before Raqa’s death, another man was caught, beaten and burnt to death in nearby Philippi.
When the Cape Argus arrived at the scene – a gravel road in Kosovo informal settlement – the police had removed the body. Witnesses explained what had happened, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“At around 5.30am, a man was seen running from roof to roof over the shacks,” one man said.
“People heard the commotion and came outside. This guy was being chased by a group of men. He fled into the area where the sewerage pumps are and tried to hide, but they found him and dragged him into the street. They set fire to him,” he said.
The attackers claimed the victim had been involved in a robbery at a shebeen earlier in the morning.
The police have confirmed murder dockets have been opened for both killings.
On Monday, a man known only as Jonathan was seriously injured after being beaten and stoned by Philippi residents at Brown’s Farm.
Residents chased several men they believed had stolen a cellphone. They caught and attacked him.
Vigilante killings and attacks have been most common in Khayelitsha. According to a police report 78 such cases occurred in Khayelitsha between 2011 and last year.
Cape Argus