Cape Town - Only a day after 22-year-old Lonwabo Jack was buried, Nyanga East has suffered yet another tragedy after a 24-year-old artist was murdered over the weekend.
Zolani Nikani, also known as Vocal Zoid, was allegedly stabbed by his close friend after a disagreement while partying in Matanzima Road in the Mau-Mau section over the weekend. The friend has since handed himself over to the police.
Police spokesperson Noloyiso Rwexana said the 23-year-old man was expected to appear in the Athlone Magistrate’s Court once he had been charged.
Nyanga community policing forum (CPF) chairperson Martin Makhasi said young people in Nyanga were being killed by other youngsters.
“It worries us as the CPF and the community that young people seem to be behaving violently and killing each other. We are not sure what informed this notion that when there is a dispute, it must be resolved through means of violence rather than discussing it and finding an amicable solution.
“One of the challenges that we are struggling with in the area is easy access to alcohol and drugs. That seems to be a major problem,” he said.
Makhasi said the CPF was working on measures to introduce to the community to ensure that such behaviour was stopped in its tracks.
“This will require direct involvement of citizens and police to up their game in terms of ensuring that the perpetrators are successfully prosecuted. That will contribute as a deterrent to other young people who would otherwise think of acting violently.
“We have a crisis, and the government needs to work jointly with us to come up with interventions. It can’t be right that our young people are growing up to be victims of alcohol and drugs, and end up being murders or perpetrators of various crimes,” he said.
Activist and Justice for Lonwabo Campaign representative Selina Tyatyeka said: “We need to be proactive in terms of mobilising the community and ensuring that such incidents do not happen.
“We recently raised awareness following the murder of the late Lonwabo Jack, and for such similar incidents to still happen is disappointing. This means we have to jointly as a community say how can we save the lives of these young people that get killed and the ones that end up being perpetrators,” she said.