Man shot dead on dance floor at Cape music festival

Junior Pieterse, 21, was dancing on the “house stage” dance floor when tragedy struck.

Junior Pieterse, 21, was dancing on the “house stage” dance floor when tragedy struck.

Published Oct 22, 2018

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Cape Town - A music festival attended by hundreds of people was shut down after a man was shot and killed on the packed dance floor.

Partygoers were shocked into silence when the man, identified as Junior Pieterse, was shot in the head on Saturday around 11pm at the iPotsoyi Spring Festival at Ostrich Farm in Philadelphia near Cape Town.

Pieterse, 21, believed to be from Eerste River, was dancing on the “house stage” dance floor when tragedy struck.

The outdoor hip hop festival featured top acts such as AKA, Kwesta, Busiswa and Sun-El Musician.

An eyewitness told the Daily Voice: “We were at the main stage, which we call first stage, and the other smaller one is house stage. The party was rukking (rocking) when we heard someone was shot and the event was being shut down.

“I didn’t hear the gunshot and we were puzzled as to why they were shutting down early, then I saw the body and people were screaming.”

The woman says the music played on for a few minutes after the shooting.

“Once everyone realised what happened, people started packing up. It was chaotic,” she says.

“We left long after it happened because we waited for our Uber driver and the body lay there for a long time.”

A Mitchells Plain man says some of the patrons became angry when they heard headliner AKA’s performance was cancelled.

“People at the main stage had no idea about the shooting and became raucous when the show was cancelled for what they thought was for no reason.”

AKA took to Twitter to explain why he couldn’t perform.

The post read: “Unfortunately someone got shot at iPotsoyi a few minutes ago and cops shut the show down so I won’t be able to get on stage. Apologies and condolences.”

Police spokesperson, Sergeant Noloyiso Rwexana, confirmed the incident.

“A case of murder has been opened for investigation. According to reports, police responded to the shooting incident at Vanschoordrift Road, Ostrich Farm, in Philadelphia at 11pm.

“Upon their arrival they found a 21-year-old man with a gunshot wound to the head. Circumstances are under investigation with no arrests so far.”

The organisers of the event, Groove Afrika, did not respond to queries.

Daily Voice

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