Cape Town – Two Elsies River mothers are in a critical
condition in hospital and their children
dead after suspected gangsters forced
their way into their wendy house in the
middle of the night and opened fire.
Toslin Samuels, 10, and his sister MJ Samuels, 12, were shot and killed along with friend Adrian Alexander, 12, and Vineto Africa, 19, on Tuesday night at their Clarke Estate home.
Mandy Samuels, 33, and Brenda Alexander, 30, were critically wounded in the incident. The shooting is now suspected to be gang-related as it is believed that Africa was a known gang member and the target of the attack.
However, the children were in the room with him at the time and the alleged suspects “killed them as they would be witnesses”, neighbours said.
Provincial police spokesperson Novela Potelwa said three suspects, aged 27, 30 and 36, were arrested within hours of the shooting, which happened at about 11pm.
The latest atrocity followed a day after President Cyril Ramaphosa gave the green light for a six-month extension for the SANDF, which has been ordered to patrol gang-infested areas across the province with the aim of maintaining stability.
A 34-year-old neighbour whose name is being withheld for fear of reprisals said she was sleeping at around 10.30pm when she heard people talking outside. The voices were followed by a bang, which was the sound of the door being kicked open, she said.
“I covered myself in bed and listened in fear as gunshots went on for a while.
“Then it was quiet for a
while before I heard footsteps of
people running. I knew it was the
perpetrators fleeing the scene, but I
was still fearful to go out and check
what had happened,” she said.
When the woman heard one
of the mothers crying out for help,
saying her child was dead, she went
to check on what had happened.
“When I got there all the children
were dead and their mothers were
injured.
“Mandy ran to the block of flats
behind us where their relatives stay.
The relatives say when they opened
the door for Mandy she just said
the children are dead, fell on her
stomach and collapsed.”
The woman said being a single
parent of two in a kill-zone area was
torture.
For Joyce Wright, 63, the death
of her granddaughter MJ opened
old wounds as she also lost her son,
MJ’s father, five years ago in a gang
shooting.
“I was sleeping and I heard
someone screaming outside. When I
checked through my window there
was a girl that I don’t know who said
she was told to come and tell me MJ
is lying dead, they have shot her.
"Still in disbelief, I sat on the bed and
tried to process what I had heard.”
Wright, who stays a street away
from her grandchild, said two of her
friends came and took her to the
scene.
Police refused to let her in the
house at that stage.
“At that point I knew it was true,
she was really gone. I had to go to
Tygerberg mortuary and see her
body.
“I don’t have any more goodbyes
left in me. I just can’t do it
any more,” she said.
Furious residents and schools in
the area staged a protest yesterday,
claiming that if the SANDF was
stationed there the incident could
have been prevented.
Police Minister Bheki Cele
commended the Anti-Gang Unit on
the swift arrest and recovery of the
gun following the incident.
Cele said the justice, crime prevention and security cluster was meeting to review the
army’s deployment strategy and
operations in order to bring peace
and stability to communities.