A heavy silence hangs over the streets of Zithobeni, east of Pretoria in Gauteng, where a popular tavern has been cordoned off as a crime scene.
In a senseless act of violence, five people were shot and killed by an unknown gunman in what residents describe as a random act of violence.
When Sunday World visited the area, details emerged about one of the victims, 25-year-old Thembi Mtshweni, who left behind her two minor children.
PICTURE: Coceka Magubeni
According to Nomfundo Mahlangu, the deceased’s niece, they had gathered at Qedukoma tavern for a good time when the unknown assailant opened fire randomly.
“My aunt was leaving to go check on her seven-months old baby when she was shot on the head and fell to the ground. I was there, I saw her,” she said sobbing.
Mahlangu said they do not know what had happened prior to the killing. However, there are allegations that the murderer was looking for someone he was in a fight with a week before.
Fearing for their lives
“Even with these details, we do not have a name of the person who did this. We are scared that it might happen again because as we walk on the streets, we do not know if this person sees us or he gets information on what we are doing,” she added.
The two little children who lost their mother sat next to Mahlangu with sadness and confusion on their faces.
“It has only been 24 hours with this new reality, what do we tell her children? Last night they were crying, asking for their mother but my older aunt said we must whisper to them when they are sleeping and tell them that their mother is gone, we hope it will work,” she said.
Mahlangu said Mtshweni will be remembered as a good person who laughed with everyone in the area.
“She loved it when we were together as a family, having a good time and laughing. She did not have any enemies because she laughed with everyone in this street, that is the kind of a person she was.”
Meanwhile, Phindile Nkuna, 32, the owner of the tavern, said something of this nature has never happened at her establishment.
“We were preparing to close when this happened. I think shocked is an understatement, because we have been running this business for 11 years and this was the first time we had an incident like this. How did so many people die in a space of minutes?” she asked.
Fight began elsewhere
Nkuna reiterated that the fight allegedly started at another tavern and was concluded at her business.
“When the person started shooting, we hid behind the counter but he was more focused on the left hand side, that is how he ended up harming a lot of people. After shooting he ran and we had to call the ambulance and police, that is how families got to identify their loved ones.”
The four deceased me have already been taken to their places of birth where they will be buried.
Nkuna said families came and performed ritual of collecting a person’s soul, and the last one did it on Monday morning.
“Even though they lived here, some are from Limpopo and others in Zimbabwe so they had to collect their souls.”
Police Brigadier Brenda Muridili said provincial serious and violent crimes tracking team is tracing the suspects.
