- The Khayelitsha community held a memorial service on June 10 to honor the victims of a barbershop shooting that killed four people, including a 5-year-old child, and injured seven others.
- Provincial police commissioner Lt-Gen Thembekile Patekile vowed to bring the perpetrators to justice, linking the incident to another shooting in the area involving a Quantum vehicle.
- Community leaders emphasised the need for collaborative efforts to address the root causes of violence and improve safety in Khayelitsha.
Khayelitsha community stakeholders held a special service on Monday 10 June at Qwarha Street in Site C to commemorate the people who died in the shooting while they were in the barbershop. The incident which was attended by the provincial police commissioner Lt-Gen Thembekile Patekile occurred on Saturday 8 June. At least four people died including a 5 year old child and seven injured during the incident.
Patekile vowed that the officers will do their best to bring the perpetrators to book.
He emphasised that the perpetrator’s days are numbered.
“We can’t allow a group of people to dictate our society. We need to work together as all community stakeholders in this area to ensure that we arrest the perpetrators,” he said, adding that no arrest has been made yet in this incident. However, he stated that the common denominator between this incident and the other one that occurred prior to this on the same day at S section in Site B is a Quantum.
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“There were two guys who were shot at Site B earlier and the perpetrators were driving a Quantum. And this one we also heard that the culprits were also coming out of a Quantum. But we still need to investigate, we can’t conclude that they are related,” he explained.
Devastated
One of the deceased family members, Zoleka Chomo whose son Lunje Chomo (10) was among those who were killed in the barbershop said she was still devastated by the incident. She said her son went to the barbershop to cut his hair.
“We were coming from Kuyasa together. He asked for money to cut his hair. I gave him money to go to the barbershop. Just after 30 minutes he left, his friend came to my house and informed me that there was a shooting in the barbershop. I hurried up and went to the scene. On my arrival the officers were already cordoning the crime scene and the bodies were covered. I asked the officers to allow me to go in and check on my child. He was laying on the door,” she burst into tears.
Zoleka said her son was shot three times, one bullet was in the head, another one at the back and at the back of his shoulder.
Khayelitsha Development Forum acting chair Monde Nqulwana said the forum is intending to establish a special forum that will deal precisely with such incidents. He said such incidents are giving a wrong impression about Khayelitsha.
“We need to find the root cause of these shootings. Many people, especially those who have small business are affected by these shootings particularly in Site C. We are pleading to our communities to stand up and work towards finding a permanent solution to this problem that we are facing now. We send our condolences to the deceased families and to those who were injured during the incident. As KDF,we view the crime as a stumbling block on luring the investors to come and invest in our areas,” said Nqulwana. He declared that Khayelitsha is becoming a crime zone area.
Khayelitsha Spiritual Crime Prevention Forum secretary Ethel Sobantu said as church leaders need to conduct a prayer walking in Khayelitsha as a whole. She said spiritual intervention is needed in the area to diffuse the bad omen.
“We need to get out of churches and go to the communities. We need to take the pulpit to the people. It is high time to talk to Jesus and ask him to help us,” said Sobantu.
