Johannesburg – Drugs killed Kabelo Makwa. It wasn’t an overdose, he didn’t even do drugs, but they killed him in the end.
The 32-year-old skateboarder known as KB hated it when users did drugs in front of children and he would always confront them.
Most of the time the users would back off and leave the Drill Hall, near Joubert Park, but on May 20 the fight got ugly.
Lucky Dlangalala was with his friend on that fateful Saturday afternoon. Also with them was a 23-year-old known only as Neo.
“Neo had gone through a transition and was doing drugs. We kept on trying to get him to change, and told him to stop doing drugs in front of the kids,” Dlangalala says.
Neo and Makwa got into a brawl, and Dlangalala said that the 23-year-old left shortly afterwards.
“Then he came back with a knife and there was that fatal blow,” remembers Dlangalala.
Makwe was stabbed in the neck and the knife sliced a major artery.
“For 30 minutes we took turns trying to resuscitate him, but when the paramedic arrived he told us he died in four minutes.”
Neo was apprehended by members of the community and later arrested by the police, who found drugs and the knife.
The suspect may have been arrested but there is fear that there might be retribution and two of Makwa’s friends went to Durban for their safety.
The rest of the skateboard community at the Drill Hall are still trying to come to terms with Makwa’s death, and for many the murder is the culmination of a failing security situation at one of Joburg’s oldest landmarks.
There is also concern for the children skating that day, who saw the murder. The spot where Makwa died is now boarded up.
“Things have completely changed,” says Barbara Hill, who runs the Time for Change charity in the Drill Hall precinct.
“I am scared for the children. In South Africa it’s easy to be killed, and if I am harsh to the drug dealers I’ll be dead. Look at that boy – he was killed because he tried to stop someone taking drugs.”
Hill uses her son Roland for security outside their offices but she says there is nothing stopping users openly smoking dagga and nyaope from coming into the area.
She said she approached the City of Joburg for help but nothing had been done. The City of Joburg hadn’t commented before going to press.
She said the drug surge started in 2013 when junkies began spilling over from the surrounding areas, including Joubert Park.
The Drill Hall dates back to 1904, when it was built as a military base. The hall became famous in 1956 when it was used for the Treason Trial. However, in 1994 the hall was abandoned and two fires in 2001 and 2002 left it gutted.
The building was given a R10million refurbishment.
Besides Hill’s charity, which provides shelter for the homeless, a bakery and a sewing shop teach skills there. Drill Hall also houses the Joubert Park Project and Johannesburg Child Welfare Society.
It was also in this space that KB and some other skateboarders founded the One Love Skate Expo which aimed to provide skating for inner-city children. Kids as young as five were taught to skate.
“There was something special about him,” says Marilyn Maijane, who admired how he worked with kids.
His friends want to keep his memory alive. “We are still hoping to keep the fire going and go on a skating trip to Cape Town this year,” says Dlangalala. “But what we need is a memorial for him.”