Durban - A man whose lip was grazed by a bullet, and who survived a weekend massacre in which five of his relatives were stabbed and burnt alive ran for seven hours dodging bullets and spears in Mbongolwane in Zululand.
On Saturday night, when a mob sprayed the family’s homestead with gunfire and hurled petrol bombs into their homes, Mpendulo Mnyango, 19, grabbed his mother, Thulisile, and ran outside.
But they were forced to turn back when they heard his two-year-old brother, Qiniso, crying frantically in the bedroom.
“We could not leave Qiniso behind. When I entered the bedroom, a petrol bomb landed on him. I picked him up but dropped him when he was engulfed in flames,” he said outside his home, the scene of the murders, on Monday.
In the end, Thulisile Mnyango, 59, and her children Cebile Mnyango, 21, Lungelo Mnyango, 17, Mlamuli Mnyango, 10, and Qiniso were killed.
Five people will appear in the Eshowe Magistrate’s Court for the murders on Tuesday.
The family’s two cows were also killed while their four homes, with all their belongings, were burnt. Mpendulo’s little sister Zodwa, 14, and their father, Madoda, 65, escaped but sustained serious injuries.
They had crawled out of the house while the mob was rampaging, Mpendulo said.
He recalled how the flames “caught” his mother and he watched her burn “in front of me”.
When the rest of the family tried to escape, he said, the killers were waiting at “all” the exits and shot at them or assaulted them with hammers and spears.
“I looked at every exit, but they were waiting. I just took a chance and jumped out a window. They beat me with a hammer, but I ran towards the bush.”
Mpendulo stopped after 10 minutes, to go back for his family, but the mob shot at him, a bullet hitting his lip.
“Bullets flew past me. They threw spears at me. They wanted to make sure no one survived. I was running in all directions. They chased me through the bush,” he recalled.
Mpendulo said he did not stop running, as he was terrified the gang would catch and murder him.
“Several homes turned me away when I needed help. I hid in the bush for the rest of the night.”
Mpendulo said he went home only on Sunday when detectives were cordoning off the homestead and he was reunited with Madoda and Zodwa.
“They thought I was dead and I thought they were dead as well.”
He was treated by paramedics. Madoda remains in a critical condition in hospital under police guard.
Zodwa is staying with relatives at a location which cannot be disclosed for her safety.
Mpendulo’s sister Thobile, 24, was inconsolable on Monday.
She cried out: “I cannot believe what they did to my entire family. How could they take my family?”
Thobile, who lives in a different area, told reporters that she could not recognise her relatives’ bodies.
“One of them was beheaded and an axe was lying next to her. They left all the hammers, shields and axes to make a statement.”
The family knew the murderers and Mpendulo said they were from the community, but the motive for the murders was unclear.
KwaZulu-Natal provincial police commissioner Lieutenant-General Mmamonnye Ngobeni expressed “shock” and “disappointment”.
She said more arrests were imminent.
KwaZulu-Natal’s MEC for Transport, Community Safety and Liaison, Willies Mchunu, welcomed the arrests and condemned the brutal attack.
“It is shocking that people can mow down an entire family at once. This act should be condemned by all peace loving people.”
The Mercury
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