Johannesburg - A teenager believed to be a member of a gang accused of terrorising residents of Etwatwa near Daveyton, Ekurhuleni, narrowly escaped death after he was necklaced with a tractor tyre.
The boy was taken to hospital with serious burn wounds. He was the fourth teenager to have been attacked since the beginning of the week, when irate residents went on the rampage, hunting down members of the feared Overloaded gang - popularly known as OVL - and killing them. Three boys were necklaced earlier this week.
Late on Thursday, the situation remained tense. Police, including some from the Tactical Response Team (TRT), kept a heavy presence in the area.
Some residents said on Thursday they haven’t been going to work because they feared the gang would attack them.
Pupils from Caiphus Nyoka Secondary School said they feared walking in the streets after school because OVL members often tried to force them to join the gang.
Residents said OVL had initially started as a group who wanted to root out the scourge of the nyaope drug in the community but eventually started killing residents and stealing from them.
Around noon on Thursday, a mob hunted down a teenager, believing him to be a member of the gang.
“Residents necklaced the youngster with a tractor tyre,” said Ekurhuleni metro police spokesman Clifford Shongwe.
“He sustained critical injuries on both of his arms, on the legs and on the chest.”
Shongwe said the police were working with the SAPS and the TRT to bring the situation under control.
The Star