Cape Town - Hours before a ceremony to say farewell to 17-year-old Amahle Quku, who was murdered in Brown’s Farm, Philippi, six people were killed in shoot-outs in the area.
Police spokesperson Novela Potelwa said a team of specialist detectives who deal with serious violent crimes were probing two shooting incidents in Philippi East within the Nyanga Cluster on Tuesday that saw six people killed in the township.
In light of the deadly shootings, there were emotional scenes at Siyahlala informal settlement in Browns Farm on Wednesday as residents from Philippi joined the family of Quku for a candlelight ceremony which also marked a send-off, as her body was expected to depart for the Eastern Cape this morning.
The ceremony was held where the slain girl’s body was discovered early on June 20 by residents in Albert Luthuli Street in Browns Farm, her clothes ripped off and stones lying next to her.
Family and friends attending a candlelight ceremony in Browns Farm where Amahle Quku's body was found. Picture: Henk Kruger/African News Agency (ANA)
Family and friends attending a candlelight ceremony in Browns Farm where Amahle Quku's body was found. Picture: Henk Kruger/African News Agency (ANA)
Residents from Philippi joined the family of Quku for a candlelight ceremony which also marked a send-off, as her body was expected to depart for the Eastern Cape this morning. Picture: Henk Kruger/African News Agency
Leonard Mzingeli, a suspect arrested in connection with Quku’s death, appeared in the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court on June 23 and was charged with murder.
During the ceremony, her distraught mother, Mandulele, cried while members of the Women’s Network comforted her.
The SA Youth Council provincial secretary, Zuko Mndayi, said the ceremony was also a show of solidarity with all the victims of gender-based violence and to indicate the police’s commitment, particularly that of the Women’s Network, to fighting violence against women.
Nyanga Community Police Forum secretary Dumisani Qwebe said: “There are still men who know that they shouldn’t abuse and treat women and children badly.”
Residents from Philippi joined the family of Amahle Quku for a candlelight ceremony which also marked a send-off, as her body was expected to depart for the Eastern Cape this morning. Video: Henk Kruger/African News Agency
In one of the shooting incidents in Philippi, Potelwa said crime
prevention members were on patrol on Tuesday afternoon when they
came across a shooting in progress between warring parties involving two Toyota Avanza vehicles on Thekwane Road.
“One gunman had just shot and killed a 19-year-old man. The gunman fired several shots at the police, who returned fire and shot the suspect. He died on the scene,” she said.
In another incident, she said Philippi East police were called to Block 4 where four men were found shot dead in a house on Tuesday evening.