Durban - An innocent caught in the crossfire is how a devastated Durban family has described the killing of a Grade 9 schoolgirl as violence at the troubled Cato Crest shack settlement spiralled out of control on Monday.
Nqobile Nzuza, 17, a pupil at Bonela High School, was allegedly shot by one of two policemen who had responded to the scene in a police van.
A spokesman for the Abahlali BaseMjondolo shack dwellers’ movement, Mnikelo Ndabankulu said Luleka Makhwenkwana, 26, was shot in her arm and was recovering in King Edward Hospital.
“It is sad that such a young girl who had no weapon was shot dead,” Nqobile’s grieving aunt, Phili Nzuza, said on Monday. “She was shot on her head and back while running away.
“If she was carrying a weapon, at least we would be saying the police were protecting themselves, but she had no gun, nothing… she was watching the protesters along the road; it was the first time she had been to see it,” said Nzuza.
The Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) confirmed that it was investigating the shooting, which took place when protesters allegedly mobbed two officers.
Ndabankulu said it was quiet this morning. Police said they were ready to deal with any flare-up.
SAPS spokesman Colonel Jay Naicker said there had been protests for the past few weeks and there could be more on Tuesday.
Nzuza, who had lived with her niece since she was nine months old, said the teen and her eldest daughter, Kimberley, 12, had run out of the house to see the protesters at about 4.15am on Monday.
“I tried to shout to them to say they mustn’t go yet because it was still dark, but they ran off with my daughter.”
She said it felt like she had lost her own daughter because she had raised Nqobile while her mother lived in uMlazi. The teen’s mother died two years ago.
Nzuza said they lived in a shack in Cato Crest and had been waiting for decades for a promised house.
Nqobile is the third person to die in the Cato Crest area in the fight for housing this year.
In July, Nkululeko Gwala, 34, was shot while walking home from a soccer match, and Thembinkosi Qumbela, a community leader, died in a similar way weeks before.
In Monday’s incident, Naiker said, about 500 protesters ambushed two police officers at Cato Crest.
They had surrounded the police vehicle and smashed its windows.
“The protesters then opened the doors and attempted to pull the police officers out. Police also heard gunshots emanating from the mob and realised that they were going to be killed,” Naicker said.
“They then fired shots at the protesters to disperse them. This allowed the two police officers to reverse the van and return to the police station to get back-up.”
He said police found Nqobile’s body and Makhwenkwana.
Police at the scene yesterday said protesters crossed over Bellair Road into the nearby suburbs to block entry and exit routes at 4am.
They used tree stumps, refuse and rubble.
Naicker said it was not known who had shot Nzuza.
Naicker said the two policemen were traumatised and had received counselling.
Ndabankulu said Nqobile’s death was “uncalled for” and the movement was demanding a full investigation.
Community Safety MEC Willies Mchunu, who visited the area on Monday, condemned the violence.
“We do not wish for a situation whether we are seeing SAPS members or members of the public losing their lives in violent public protests.
“I have started engagements with all stakeholders… Police have given me their side of the story and I am glad that the matter has been taken over by (Ipid) for investigation.”
Mchunu vowed to investigate all the circumstances that led to the violence.
“There is a constitutional right for people to protest but no one has right to provoke violence, either from the public or the police,” he said.
The ANC chairman of the Cato Crest region, Health MEC Sibongiseni Dhlomo, said the accusations made by Abahlali against the ANC, including that the ANC was involved in “political execution” of dissidents, were false.
“We would welcome people who have peaceful demonstrations but the Cato Crest government property is being burnt down, councillors’ houses are being burnt down and Abahlali baseMjondolo is attacking police.”
He said violent protests would be met with violence and questioned why members were protesting at 2am.
“Find a convenient time to protest and respect other residents who are not involved and are sleeping.”
Daily News