Cape Flats residents have left at least five bodies in their wake in a day of vigilante justice shrouded in mystery.
The Daily Voice can on Tuesday reveal that there were three separate attacks in less than 24 tense hours in just one Flats neighbourhood.
The Daily Voice retraced the trail of terror in Philippi and tracked down the victims’ relatives on Monday.
In the first incident at about midnight on Saturday, two friends were beaten to death near a shebeen.
In the second just an hour later, two other men were also beaten to death outside a popular drinking spot.
And residents have also confirmed that the body of an unidentified person found in the boot of a burnt-out Toyota may have been the victim of a kangaroo court.
The charred remains in the boot of a Cressida, thought to be a cockroach taxi, were found near a vlei in the Siyanyanzela squatter camp in Philippi.
An eyewitness says the only thing left of the body is the intestines and the skull – even the gender cannot be determined.
“That is the only thing I noticed about the body,” says the shaken witness.
“I didn’t see a car burning close to our area, so I have no idea how the car got here.”
Nyanga police spokeswoman Ntomboxolo Sitshitshi says: “The body was found inside the boot of a burnt car.
“... We are unable at the moment to determine whether the deceased is a male or female because the body is burnt beyond recognition.”
Mystery also surrounds the violent deaths of two friends at about midnight outside a shebeen in Village Four in Browns Farm, Philippi.
Cops say Nyameko Vava, 22, and his friend Siyabulela Bambelo, 22, died of multiple wounds to the head and torso.
Their bodies were found by relatives after they received anonymous phone calls telling them where to find the men.
Bambelo died in a churchyard opposite the shebeen, while his friend died next to the gate of the shebeen opposite the church.
Bloodstained bricks were found around their beaten bodies.
A resident who refused to be identified says that the two men were murdered by a mob armed with pangas, knives and bricks.
“They were attacked with different kinds of weapons,” he says.
He says the trouble started at the shebeen and spilled out onto the street.
But he says he cannot say what the men did to cause the mob to take their lives.
As with other mob justice attacks, the community is keeping quiet about the incident.
Sitshitshi says two suspects have been arrested for the murders and urged residents not to take the law into their own hands.
Nyameko’s brother Malibongwe Vava, 28, tells the Daily Voice that a neighbour came to tell him that his younger brother was being attacked.
“I went to the scene and found my brother lying in a pool of blood,” he says.
“He had a big gash in the heart and there was also a big hole on his back and forehead.
“My brother had come from the bush and found a job to further his studies.”
He insists both victims were not criminals and that they were harmless.
“The people who killed them must explain to the family why would they kill them like dogs,” says Malibongwe.
Siyabulela’s mother, Busisiwe Bambelo, says her son had just completed Grade 12 last year.
An hour after their bodies were found, another mob attacked Mweli Nohashe, 24, and Sandiso Mpehle, leaving them for dead.
Mweli’s younger brother Runki Nohashe, 22, says that his brother was stoned and stabbed outside a tavern in Brown’s Farm.
“I was inside the tavern when I heard a noise and I came out in time to see a crowd attacking my brother,” he says.
“They had stoned and stabbed him to death.”
Runki says he has no idea as to why his brother and his friend were so brutally murdered.
But just as in the case of Nyameko and Siyabulela, the mob dispersed quietly and the community is keeping mum.
Nyanga officer Sitshitshi adds that that two suspects have been arrested and charged for the murders of Mweli and Sandiso. - Daily Voice