Police Minister Bheki Cele has today, November 22, visited the bereaved Mgxada family in Sithebe Administrative Area outside Mthatha, which lost seven family members who were shot and killed by three gunmen on November 16.
The incident occurred while the family was busy with funeral preparations for another family member, Novotile Mgxada (62), who was shot and killed a week earlier.
ICYMI | Seven family members shot, killed while mourning another murdered relative
Novotile Mgxada has since been buried on November 19 as originally planned before the shooting of the seven victims.
[WATCH] A family representative takes the @SAPoliceService and @StateSecurityRS delegation though the sequence of events following the #BityiKillings family massacre. Seven family members were massacred in this room. pic.twitter.com/u2jvm0WLUE
— Lirandzu Themba (@LirandzuThemba) November 22, 2022
The seven victims will be laid to rest during a mass funeral on Thursday, November 24.
Cele also addressed a community Imbizo organized by the Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa (CONTRALESA) outside the Mgxada family homestead to quell tensions between community members.
The community is reportedly divided into factions, one supporting Masibonisane and another against the formation.
Masibonisane is a group of livestock farmers allegedly engaged in vigilante acts against stock thieves, which is rampant in the area.
[HAPPENING NOW] Following the shocking fatal shooting of seven family members in Bityi Eastern Cape, @SAPoliceService Minister Gen Bheki Cele and @StateSecurityRS Deputy Minister @zizikodwa are at his hour paying a comfort visit to the bereaved family in their Bityi homestead. pic.twitter.com/crPdBPmMp4
— Lirandzu Themba (@LirandzuThemba) November 22, 2022
“From the briefing we got this morning; I can say our police detectives are not doing their job in this area. I looked at a long list of murders and attempted murders, and no arrests had been made about those cases, which tells me that criminals do as they please in this area, and that needs to change,” Cele conceded while addressing the Imbizo.
He said he would come back within three weeks with a multi-disciplinary team from the criminal justice system to “zoom in into the rampant crime situation in Mthatha and the entire OR Tambo District policing precinct.”
Traditional leaders have implored Cele to upgrade the Bityi Police Station to Category C1, which requires a Colonel as Station Commander from its current Category B (Lieutenant Colonel) and adequate resourcing of the police station.
Cele promised those in attendance that the request would be considered.
[NOW] The two #JCPS #SecurityCluster Ministers are now interacting with mourners and community members of the Bityi are on their crime concerns and policing demands, following the #BityiKillings in the Eastern Cape. pic.twitter.com/YSxg7CBHGO
— Lirandzu Themba (@LirandzuThemba) November 22, 2022
