Another woman shot dead at ill-famed Glebelands Hostel

A woman was shot and killed at Glebelands Hostel on Thursday night just hours after a parliamentary oversight committee on policing visited the Umlazi Police Station to discuss violence at the strife torn complex.

KwaZulu-Natal South African Police Service (SAPS) spokesman, Lieutenant-Colonel Thulani Zwane said a 30-year-old woman was killed at the ill-famed hostel at about 8.30pm on Thursday night.

In July, a man and woman were shot and killed on the same night at the notorious complex. Five days later, three men were shot and wounded.

Commenting on the latest killing Zwane on Friday said: “It is alleged that she was in her room when [an] unknown suspect entered her room and shot her. A murder case was opened at Umlazi police station and police are investigating”.

During the meeting held at the Umlazi Police Station – just hours before the woman was killed – the chair of the political oversight committee, Francois Beukmantold, told journalists that “special attention” would be paid to Glebelands.

Last month the Umlazi Police Station featured prominently in testimony about violence at the hostel during the Moerane Commission inquiry into political killings in the province.

Allegations were made that rogue SAPS members from Umlazi were involved in supplying police issue weapons to hitmen at the hostel and also directing them on hits. Police officers were also accused of being involved in torture and extortion at the hostel.

Community rights activist Vanessa Burger told the commission that more than 90 deaths in the province could be linked to Glebelands-based hitmen.

All of those testifying at the commission in July attributed the hostel violence to greed and a desire for power – particularly political power.

The Moerane Commission resumes on 16 August in Mayville, Durban.