Community and families exposed to string of fatal violent shooting horror

Men in balaclavas gunning down targeted individuals, some killed in front of their families and others in public view, have left the community of Mamelodi gripped in fear.

From August 29 until October 10, the township has been plagued by several violent shootings that claimed the lives of seven people and two cases of attempted murder.

Police spokesperson Brigadier Brenda Moridili said a special investigative task team has been established to investigate the spate of murders in the township.

Muridili said evidence suggested that there was infighting and or rivalry between two gang groups, namely Boko Haram and its breakaway group Bafarasai.

A breakdown of the recent killings:

The genesis: A person who witnessed one of the first shootings described how the killing of two people outside Santorini club, in section C in Mamelodi West, took place. Speaking to Rekord, Pholoso (not his real name) detailed the ordeal.

“On August 29, an unfamiliar black minibus was parked near the club when four people allegedly from Boko Haram approached it,” he said.

“Before they could even get close to the vehicle shots were fired.”

Two men aged 24 and 43 were wounded.

A police van that was nearby responded to the crime scene and a few minutes later, the police were shot at, forcing officers to run for cover.

Pholoso said the shooters went back to “finish off” the wounded two, shooting them in the head. The shooting was confirmed by the police.

While the community suspects those gunned down were associated with Boko Haram, Muridili said not all the victims have proven ties to the alleged gangs.

“The woman who was shot in the last incident was not a gang member,” she said.

She, however, said police suspected some victims were associated with gangs.

“The first incident, we suspect that the two victims have links to the gangs but investigations are still underway,” she said.

The Boko Haram group is accused of extortion, hijacking construction projects, demanding protection fees from business owners, intimidating and hijacking a municipal building.

Issues of gangsterism were not foreign in Mamelodi. Muridili said in 2019, a task team was established to deal with the issue in the township and then six people were arrested and faced charges ranging from extortion, armed robbery, business robbery, assault, harassment, and intimidation.

“Then gang-related crimes were stabilised until the beginning of this year when extortions started again,” she said.

“The collection of the so-called protection fee from business owners was rife and those who refused to pay were targeted and killed but now this crime category has been stabilised.”

She said in March, four people were arrested for extortion, hijacking of a building (a hostel), contravention of the private security industry regulatory authority act (for the collection of the so-called protection fee), as well as fraud.

Overall 10 people were arrested from 2019, but were released after complainants withdrew their cases.

“Complainants should stop withdrawing cases in court. We also need the community of Mamelodi to come forward with any information that they have on any criminal activities in their area.

“Witnesses should assist the police during identification parades, give statements and attend court proceedings to enable the police to build strong cases against those that have been arrested.”

Following the shootings, different scenarios of who might be behind these surfaced in the township. Some believed that a fictional character from the movie “John Wick”-like vigilante was behind the killings.

A resident, who is also a community leader and wished to stay anonymous for fear of victimisation, said there were claims within the community that those who are dying are either members or previously associated with Boko Haram- “a gang which is very popular in Mamelodi”, he said.

“The truth is that people are dying but we do not know who is behind the killings. We are living in fear and anxiety and this is worsened by fake news.

“Many videos are circulating on social media of cars full of bullet holes and are said to be from Mamelodi but this is not true.

“Police have to consistently investigate these and find at the end they wasted time and resources because they are old and unreliable videos.”

He said some people knew the truth about what was happening but because of the “trust issues” with the police, chose to keep tight-lipped.

“A lot of people have been killed, before these killings, there were people who were gunned down almost every week, people from the taxi association members and others but the community was mum,” he said.

“As a community, we are appealing to all our brothers who are in conflict out there to find a better way to resolve their problems because things cannot continue like this.”

The history of the Boko Haram group:

The community leader said the group that rose to fame in the township did not start as Boko Haram. It started as a community forum that was going to be a body to represent small businesses in discussing job creation with big constructions in the area.

In every construction project, the main contractors were expected to hire 30 % of their staff from the community for skills development and job creation.

He said things took a turn when the group meetings were hijacked by criminal activities and people were killed, leading to many members of the community leaving the forum.

“Things intensified during the construction of the Mams mall in 2018 when the group instructed project managers that they wanted particular jobs which they were not qualified for. Then the problems of extortion of projects started from there. ”

In 2018 the Mams mall owner New Africa Development (NAD) CEO Japie van Niekerk told Rekord that there were disruptions of construction caused by aggressive incidents of intimidation, manipulation and extortion by a group of people.

“In some projects, they just demanded money without even offering labour, which was outright extortion,” the resident continued to explain.

“They would go to any project and demand a 30% slice and this was no longer about empowering small businesses but themselves and they did not employ people from Mamelodi.

“They also started extorting money for people who wanted to work outside Denlyn mall. Even people who had small car wash businesses were also demanded to pay but the community dealt with that.”

He said at some point the group demanded that EPWP workers pay them R50 per month but the workers refused.

“There were cases where those who were subcontracted at the projects, the group would go to their homes with guns and demand money. What was surprising about this was that they knew exactly the amount these people received.

“I feared that at some point all workers in Mamelodi would be expected to pay the group because of the way it was growing. Many young and unemployed people fall prey to being part of these groups.”

Another resident, who refers to himself as a “street hustler” said the gang must have tried to extort money from “the wrong people”.

Moshandi (not his real name) said the gang’s modus operandi involved instilling fear in their victims. “They were not subtle, they were extreme. You stand in their way, you or someone close to you will get hurt or killed,” he said.

“They either threatened the wrong group or ruffled the wrong feathers, but something major happened because whoever John Wick is, he is out for vengeance.

“I do not think John Wick is one person, I believe it is a group of people who may have lost their loved ones during the taking over of the gang because they rule by terror. Or maybe a deal went wrong and they betrayed the wrong person.”

Addressing the issue during an imbizo two weeks ago, Police minister Bheki Cele said: “We are using the KZN approach and will create special teams that will clean Mamelodi and arrest all gang members.”

He said not only did the gang kill innocent people, but also terrorised elected officials who were in hiding after being threatened by the gang.

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