Cape Town - Police have not ruled out extortion gangs for a massacre on Sunday, in which six people were killed, in Khayelitsha.
The killings in Site C, comes less than two months after 11 people were killed in separate mass shootings in Endlovini and Enkanini, Khayelitsha.
In the latest incident, gunmen opened fire on residents outside a local spaza shop on the corner of Mapongwana and Idada streets.
Police said five men died instantly, while another passed away on his way to hospital.
He was later identified as Mthokozisi Mhlakaza, 37.
Mhlakaza’s family said the unmarried father had stepped out of his home to buy a candle when less than five minutes later shots were fired.
A family member, who did not want to be named, said: “I think it was around 7.30pm. It wasn’t late enough that one couldn’t walk yet, so we didn't think anything of it when he said he was going to the shop to buy a candle. However, not more than a few minutes after he left we heard several shots going off.
“We sent out our cousin to go look for him, not expecting him to be one of the persons shot, only for him to come back saying Mthokozisi had been shot and wounded. He was still holding the candle in his hand.
“I can’t tell you how we feel, there is no making sense of what happened, and we are terrified now, more so than we were before,” she said.
Across the street from the Mhakaza household, 22-year-old Athenkosi Bonkolo and 32-year-old Khayalethu Maneli’s aunt, Nosiphiwo Xego, sat in her home devastated.
Xego, who lost her nephews in the mass shooting, said she tried to warn them not to go outside after hearing the first round of shots, but they insisted.
The community’s local councillor, Khaya Kama, said the community was still shocked by what they had witnessed over the weekend but were assured that the police would take decisive action to safeguard them.
Kama said the mass killing was not the first in Site C, which only fuelled the community’s distrust in police being able to curb the rampant massacres.
Visiting the crime scene were provincial police commissioner Thembisile Patekile, accompanied by Community Safety and Police Oversight MEC Reagen Allen and the Khayelitsha, Blue Downs and Tygerberg Cluster Commander Vincent Beaton.
In addressing the media outside the Khayelitsha police station, Patekile said that while investigating officers had yet to identify any leads that could reveal the motive behind the murders, detectives could not rule out extortion rings or township gang violence.
Patekile said that while the police were investigating the mass murders, the SAPS would also look into redirecting resources to combat crime incidents in the community.
Patekile revealed that less than 10m from the mass shooting crime scene, 29-year-old Nosiviwe James was allegedly stabbed to death by her boyfriend, bringing the number of people killed in the area to seven on Sunday evening.
Community Safety and Police Oversight MEC Reagen Allen said: “What took place in this community last night is deeply disturbing. In recent times, this area has experienced several mass fatal shootings. The murder pattern clearly shows that Saturday evenings to Sunday evenings are high-risk periods.”
Allen also lamented over Khayelitsha’s police-resident ratio, currently sitting at one officer for every 628 residents.
Crime expert Guy Lamb said the police should first look into building better relations with residents in local communities.
“These incidents are difficult for police to combat now, as is expected with organised crime incidents, because they don’t have relationships with local communities.
“If we look at the Site C community, police don’t have a stronghold there and are unlikely to get the community to co-operate with them because there hasn’t been a proper police presence there.
“However, if the police were to establish their presence and maintain visibility, not just reactive visibility, that’ll be a start.”
Lamb also attributed the lack of adequate police resources as a factor in the ongoing mass killings, citing that lack of resources was limiting how police could respond to violent crimes and contributing to them not being able to solve murders, leading to the public’s lack of trust.
The police also revealed that they had arrested one more suspect for the mass killing of five people in Endlovini in March.