A security officer gave a desperate 36 minutes of CPR to save the life of a University of Pretoria student who was shot and left for dead in Hatfield in vain, his supervisor told mourners.
Thapelo Menwe, whose name means prayer in Setswana, was an answer to his parents’ prayers as their firstborn child and later a role model to his two younger siblings.
Their joy was to be short-lived as the honours internal auditing student’s life was cut short at 23 when he was shot in the abdomen during a robbery in Grosvenor Street in Hatfield as he walked home from a student bar where he’d played pool. Just a few meters away from his residence in Tuksdorp, he was ambushed and shot by his assailant.
University students on Thursday evening gathered under the tree where Menwe was killed to honour his life.
The CEO of the student resident precinct, Hatfield city improvement district (CID), Lucas Luckhoff told the mourners that attempts to save Menwe’s life by a security officer who found him failed.
“When the sound of the gunshot that killed Thapelo was heard, security immediately rang an alarm and some officers chased after the suspects, while one ran to Thapelo and tried to resuscitate him,” he said.
Luckhoff said the suspected gunman had earlier been dropped off in the area by a car without lights on.
“We are told the man is from Nellmapius. After he got out of the car, he followed the victim already with his gun out,” he said.
“After shooting him in the stomach and robbing him, he got into the getaway car. As they were turning around the corner, they were stopped by a university patrol vehicle and a police vehicle,” he said.
“Their arrest is little consolation to his tragic death; the system has failed you [students] and has failed him.”
WATCH;
Tempers flared at the ceremony with angry students accusing CID Security of failing to patrol the street in which Menwe was killed. Luckhoff said minutes before the murder, there was a patrol car in the vicinity, but conceded that more needed to be done to ensure a safer environment for students.
Menwe’s closest friend, Legodi Legodi, said he was shattered by the death of the BComm honours student.
Legodi said he, Menwe and other friends were playing pool in Springbok Bar on the night of the murder.
“I last spoke to him 15 minutes before he died. I left for my place before him and he followed five minutes later.”
On Saturday afternoon, he received a call from Menwe’s younger brother asking him to check up on Menwe because he had received news that he had been shot. “I ran to the police station thinking that he was still alive and that I would be told he was admitted to hospital. But I was told he passed away, and since then I have not stopped crying.”
Legodi, reacting to video footage of the shooting that circulated on social media, said he was “disgusted by the lack of remorse from the guy that killed my friend”.
“From the video, it looks like the shooter had an intention to kill because why did he pull out the gun before he even reached Thapelo?”
“It is painful to see,” he said, describing Thapelo as a humble, intelligent young man full of sarcasm.
“I’ve known Thapelo for nine years. We met in grade 8 at Hoërskool Zeerust. Our plan for life was that we were going to finish high school on time then go to varsity and be roommates. Everything was as we planned it. He graduated and obtained a degree in financial science last year.
“He was humble about his intelligence and was not a person who liked to brag. He was sarcastic, very funny and full of humility. He is just a friend you want to be around, have conversations and listen to music with.
“Our last night together, we were sharing some laughs, playing games and making memories.
“Little did we know that those were our last moments with him, last game and last drinks with him.”
Menwe’s friends also described him as a skilled footballer when he was not cracking numbers.
Classmate Ifrah Rage said the murder highlighted the long-standing issues students have with security at the university.
“We are angry. Incidents like these need to be prevented. There needs to be more patrols around student residences and campus.”
She said Menwe was smart, hard-working and probably had a job lined up for him next year, “but he was robbed of his dreams and his little siblings robbed of someone they looked up to”.
Menwe will be buried in his home in Zeerust in North West on Saturday.
The suspects, Bongani Sibiya and William Seema Makgoba (aged 38 and 33), are expected back in court on Monday on charges of murder, robbery and possession of an unlicensed firearm.
WATCH; UP director of students affairs, Dr Matete Madiba, addresses students on safety concerns.
ALSO READ: UP student murder accused’s bail application postponed
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