“We lost a dear brother,” said Mr Luzuko Nkothana, the brother of Zukiswa Kela (25) who is one of the two men killed in Rhodes Park on Saturday night.
Mr Kela and his fiancé, along with another couple, were attacked by 12 men in the park shortly before 7pm.
“One woman was raped while the other was able to fight her attackers off. The men were then thrown into the lake, with their hands tied behind their backs. Their feet were also tied. The suspects also took the couples’ wallets and cellular phones before fleeing the scene,” said the Cleveland SAPS communications officer, Constable Mpho Mashakane.
The bodies of the two men were recovered from the lake at about 10pm.
Const Mashakane said the men were certified dead at the scene by paramedics.
She said one cellular phone, belonging to one of the deceased, was recovered by the police in the grass next to the scene.
According to the family’s spokesperson, Mr Nkothana, the family has lost a dear brother.
He said Mr Kela and his fiancé were in the middle of their wedding preparations.
“My brother was born on July 7, 1990, in the Eastern Cape. He moved to Johannesburg. He was working as a teacher at Westbury High School at the time of his death. We lost a dear brother,” he said.
Mr Nkothana said the preparations for the funeral have not yet been finalised.
Constable Mashakane said the other couple was from the Eastern Cape and were visiting their friends, Mr Kela and his fiancé, for the weekend when the incident happened.
She asked anyone who may have information about the murder to contact the SAPS.
