Community in shock after shop owner’s murder

The murder of a well-known shop owner in Magaliesburg sent shock waves through the community.

Affluent member of the Muslim community and general dealer Abdul Khalik Mansoor (48) was found dead in his shop on Saturday 5 October. This shortly after the NEWS had reported on the sentence handed to a man after being found guilty of an Islamophobic attack and killing in the same town in 2012.

According to Mansoor’s eldest son, Ridhwaan Mansoor the autopsy showed that his father had been hit on the head with a blunt object and strangled. Some allege that the blunt object was a hammer.

Ridhwaan says that his family is struggling to come to terms with their father’s death and adds that his 20-year-old sister is suffering the most.

“He was a funny, kind-hearted man; he never even raised his voice at his children. It’s a mystery why criminals would want to hurt such a man,” he says.

Iqbal Jassat, a close friend and Executive of Media Network – a Johannesburg-based organisation dedicated to exposing Zionist apartheid and the occupation of Palestine – in an interview expressed his horror about the incident.

“I find it difficult to accept his death and the way in which he had to die,” he says.

The unanswered questions and uncompleted investigation by police limited Jassat’s comment on the murder itself but he gladly spoke about his dear friend.

“I must have been one of the last people to see him alive as I had tea with him the morning before his murder,” he told the NEWS.

“I remember thinking what a great human being he is; he always used to crack a joke or ask how everybody else was doing.”

According to Jassat, Mansoor took pride in his shop and treated his customers with great respect.

“His name was well known in the area’s retail industry.”

Not knowing exactly what happened on the day of the murder, other shop owners are left fearing for their lives.

The NEWS still awaits comment about the case from the Magaliesburg SAPS.