Police forum member shot dead

The Steenberg Community Police Forum says it has stopped patrols in the area after one of its members was shot dead.

Soraya Nordien, 49, was killed in her bed in what appeared to be a botched robbery by two gunmen who ran into her house on Friday night.

Steenberg CPF chairman Kevin Southgate said the shooting began when a man, whom the two men had apparently tried to rob, ran into Nordien’s home.

This incident came just two days after eight-year-old Zunaid McKenzie was shot dead and a 24-year-old woman was wounded in the area.

Southgate said the latest incident highlighted that community police forum members were also in danger.

“We are unarmed, no bulletproofs… we are at the coalface of the action and we often have to patrol without help,” Southgate said.

He said he had recommended to community police forum members that they stop patrols until “the situation had stabilised”.

Southgate said it was “sad” to have lost Nordien in this way because she had been a community activist for 18 years and had been a member of the community police forum from the start. He said Nordien and her friend, Aysha Davids, had founded Women Hope for the Nation, which did community work in the area.

Clive Jacobs, head of the Lavender Hill Youth Outreach Project, said he had seen no increase in the police presence in the area since last week’s incident, but residents hoped arrests would be made soon.

Police spokesman Captain Frederick van Wyk said people with information should contact Crime Stop at 086 0010 1111.

neo.maditla@inl.co.za

Cape Argus