11 killings in one day in Khayelitsha under investigation

Two more people have died following a shooting spree across various locations in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, on Saturday, bringing the tally of victims to 11.

A team of organised crime detectives were probing the incidents, believed to be revenge killings, police spokesperson Brigadier Novela Potelwa said on Sunday.

The body of the victim in the first shooting was found with several gunshot wounds next to a firearm early Saturday along Banzi Street in Site B. Police also found a substantial amount of money.

Potelwa said in the second shooting, believed to be in retaliation for the first murder, two Somali nationals were shot at in T110. One died on the scene and the other was seriously wounded and taken to hospital.

“At the RR Section, three other males were shot dead later on Saturday afternoon in an incident believed to be linked to the first two. Meanwhile, at a spaza shop in Y-Block, two other men were killed after being shot, one in the yard and another in a vehicle.”

Two other Somali nationals were shot near a spaza shop in the area. One died on the scene while the other was transported to hospital, where he later died.

“Additional information has since emerged that two other victims of the shooting incidents who were taken to Tygerberg Hospital and the Khayelitsha District Hospital later died. Police have since reinforced deployments in the area,” Potelwa said.

“Organised crime detectives are hard at work probing multiple murder and attempted murder cases.”

Meanwhile, the Khayelitsha Development Forum (KDF) condemned the killings.

KDF chairperson Ndithini Leon Tyhido said the three spheres of government should work together to root out the scourge of “extortion gangs” in the communities.

Last year, Police Minister Bheki Cele set up a priority committee on organised crime and extortion.

The police had allocated resources to probe ongoing complaints of extortion in areas, including Khayelitsha and Gugulethu, which were suspected to be linked to deadly mass shootings.

Daily Maverick reported that two extortion gangs that operated in Khayelitsha and other areas were “Boko Haram” and the “Guptas”.

The KDF called on government to speed up plans to establish a police station in Makhaza.

“We call on President Matamela C. Ramaphosa to urgently intervene [in] the development of the Makhaza police station. This police station was decided upon more than 20 years ago when Mr Leonard Ramatlakane (ANC) was still MEC for community safety in the Western Cape,” Tyhido said on Sunday.

He said policing in the Western Cape was prioritised in affluent suburbs, and urged provincial police commissioner General Thembisile Patekile to address skewed policing resources.

“The KDF further calls on the three spheres of government as well as businesses to support its first of its kind CCTV technology based “Uyabonwa” project that it designed before the onslaught of Covid-19 (sic),” he said.

Tyhido has called on residents to “remain resolute” in the quest for a safe and peaceful Khayelitsha.