A distraught family is appealing to the new provincial police commissioner to establish a task team and speed up the arrest of three gunmen who killed two friends and left a widowed mother of one of the victims seriously injured.
The 60-year-old woman, Andiswa Nokhanyo Ntanase, who saw her son, Sihle, 28, shot dead, is now fighting for her life in a Mthatha hospital following the brutal attack on Saturday morning when the three men stormed her Manyosini village home in the Tabase administrative area outside Mthatha
Ntanase was assaulted in front of her children and grandchildren when two of the men, both armed with pistols and hammers, broke into the home, kicking the door open.
Manyosini is one of the villages in Mthatha notorious for stock theft and revenge attacks.
“Many people are living in fear, if you are vocal on crime, the criminals will target you and are not afraid to kill,” family spokesperson Nothekanti Ntanase-Gambu said.
“So people of this village, to save their lives, they turn a blind eye on criminal activities and criminals do as they please and fear nothing.
“It is for those reasons that we appeal to the new provincial commissioner [Lieutenant-General Vuyisile Ncata] to send his provincial task team to arrest my sister’s attackers and send more police to patrol the area.
“We hope that if special detectives can come here, even if some of the army can be deployed, many lives could be saved,” Ntanase-Gambu said.
The horrific attack has left the community in shock.
Ntanase tearfully recounted the attack.
“They kicked open the door and … demanded money and firearms.
“They said they’d been told I was hiding R1m and guns in my house. I told them I had none — how could I have R1m?
“I’m unemployed! My husband, who passed away in October, was a general worker at a construction company ... I even offered them our livestock,” she said.
I could see that they enjoy torturing and killing people and I was ready to be killed as well
Ntanase was in the house with four children and grandchildren aged between seven and 28.
“My son [Sihle], who was in another room, heard the noise and the breaking of the door and rushed to my rescue.
“When he saw that they were armed with guns, he lifted his hands and pleaded with them not to kill us, not to spill blood, saying that my husband had just died five months ago.
“They continued to demand money and guns and when he said we had none of those they insulted him and shot him dead with his hands raised.
“They were brutal. They hit me on the head, arms and legs with a hammer and threatened to break all my bones if I did not give them the money and the guns.
“But I told them that I had none. I was hurting that they had killed my son in front of me.
“I could see that they enjoy torturing and killing people and I was ready to be killed as well,” she said.
After the killing, they allegedly forced her to take them to a neighbour’s home, even though she was badly injured and struggling to walk.
Police spokesperson Captain Welile Matyolo confirmed that two men — aged 28 and 36 — were shot dead.
“After the first fatal shooting of the 28-year-old man, the terrified woman [Ntanase] was then marshalled at gunpoint to the neighbour’s house, where the suspects opened fire, fatally wounding a 36-year-old neighbour [Yamkela Mpozolo].
“The suspects allegedly ransacked the neighbour’s house before fleeing the scene,” Matyolo said.
He said police were investigating two counts of murder and more cases would be added as the investigation continued.
Daily Dispatch
