Steiltes soccer ball shooting: locals urged to be vigilant

Local security companies have urged the community to avoid the Steiltes soccer ball in the evenings, following several robberies, burglaries and, most recently, a fatal shooting on the site.

A local, Samkelo Silvester Nkosi (34), had been with a female friend, quietly enjoying the view from the hilltop on Monday night, January 23, at about 19:30, when two armed men dressed in dark clothing approached the pair and began shooting.

Nkosi and his friend had been standing outside his vehicle, a white VW Golf 7, when the gunmen confronted them, fatally shooting Nkosi.

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Nkosi, who had been working for a local business thought to be situated in Sonheuwel, contracted by the Mpumalanga Department of Community Safety, Security and Liaison, is believed to have fallen to the ground. His friend was unharmed.

The two suspects stole Nkosi’s service pistol and fled the scene in his car.

Lowvelder has seen CCTV footage of the incident. Two men can be seen hiding in some bushes opposite where Nkosi and his friend had been standing. Nkosi’s vehicle was behind some bushes, out of view of the camera.

Once the men run towards the vehicle, lights can been seen flashing, however, these are thought to be the lights from the vehicle starting when the suspects climb in.

The car can be seen speeding off, exiting the scene, and a few seconds afterwards, a person can be seen running very fast down the path leading away from the ball.

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This is presumably the friend, who went to a nearby filling station to call for help. A few seconds afterwards, a second person can be seen running more slowly, however, it is unclear who this person is and how they may be connected to the incident, if at all.

The woman ran to the filling station opposite Steiltes SPAR on Aurora Drive where Juhann Swanepoel of Nelspruit Concerned Citizens (NCC) spotted her.

“I was driving past the garage at about 19:40, when I saw a woman standing near a bakkie. She appeared to be greatly distressed,” said Swanepoel.

“The person in the bakkie loaded the woman inside their vehicle and asked us to follow them back to the soccer ball.

“I was a bit apprehensive, because I had another person in the car with me and did not really know what I would find when I got to the scene. I didn’t know if there would be any suspects still there.

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“Once we arrived, the woman got out of the bakkie and ran down the path towards the soccer ball. I followed, and that is when I saw a man lying there in a pool of blood. I immediately began performing CPR on the man and asked the friend I was with to use my phone to call for more NCC members. I continued to perform CPR until emergency medical service arrived,” he said.

Besides the NCC members, local security companies such as ACS Spartan Security, Securicon Lowveld, Hi-Tech Security and Divergent Ops, as well as the Nelspruit SAPS and emergency medical services also went to the scene.

John Meintjies of Nelspruit Community Policing Forum, NCC and ACS Spartan Security said there had been many incidents of burglaries, robberies and a few shooting incidents at the soccer ball over the past year.

“It is bittersweet, because the soccer ball is an iconic place to visit in Mbombela and it is difficult to ask people to stay away from the area just because others want to break the law and commit crimes,” he said. “We are calling on the community to be vigilant, as sadly, the area is a crime hotspot.”

He said the cameras set up in the area are for the substation and reservoir, which are also on the site, but that erecting more cameras around the viewing point might be something to consider.

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Securicon Lowveld’s Callum mac Pherson said that in all his years in security, he had found many stolen items from home invasions stashed in the bushes at the ball.

“The soccer ball has paths linking to Hunter Street and the road leading towards the Matumi Golf Estate boundary. We find it is an area frequented by criminals because of the bush and it being a rather isolated area. Any area that is isolated and not in a good view of main roads is a risk.”

Albert Gryvenstein of Bossies Community Justice said his team had started the process of trying to track Nkosi’s vehicle almost immediately, but found that the tracker in the car had been disabled.

“This is definitely not the first incident of this nature to occur at the soccer ball. It is definitely not a safe space to frequent during the late afternoon and evening,” he said.

When Lowvelder arrived at the scene at 20:15, local security companies and the police were already there, as was the friend who had been with Nkosi at the time of the shooting.

The woman declined to speak to Lowvelder due to the trauma of the incident.

A provincial police spokesperson, Brigadier Selvy Mohlala, said no one has been arrested thus far. He said a case of murder with additional charges of robbery and carjacking are currently being investigated.