Following the brutal murder of five people at New Monwabisi Park, Endlovini, on Monday last week, Police Minister Bheki Cele has revealed police are looking for three culprits involved in the murder.
He told the media that the identities of the suspects were know.
He was commenting during his visit to the area on Thursday 17 March where he hosted a Crime Prevention Imbizo.
The shooting incident has left many residents reeling in shock and worried about their lives. The five people, a woman and four men were shot execution style (“K’litsha bloodbath” City Vision, 17 March).
Initial police reports indicated that the deceased were between the ages of 25 and 35. However, Cele refuted the ages, adding that the deceased were between 20 to 32 years.
During the gathering residents complained about a range of things including lack of lighting at night. They also complained about police ineffectiveness and non visibility in the area.
As long as the neighbourhood has no electricity, residents believe more people are going to die.
Sinethemba Mthini, chair of South African National Civics Organisation (Sanco) in the area, said killings were normal to them. “But this incident has really shaken everyone. Seeing five dead bodies is nothing light at all. We are calling on police to look closely into this area because crime is rife here,” he said, to a loud cheers from the community.
Another resident Thanduzolo Magwa said people’s homes are also broken into regularly and perpetrators are known. “But people are fearing for their lives and end up not reporting them. They are not reporting because they are worried police will leak such information to the criminals,” he said.
Magwa accused South African Police Services of being rotten to the core. He called for action to be taken as residents no longer have confidence in the police.
Cele said they were on the manhunt for the suspects he described as “animals”.
“We are searching for animals here. These are not human being but animals. These culprits were a group that sat somewhere and planned this,” he said, adding he wanted them not their names.
Cele called on politicians to put politics aside as residents expected them to improve their living conditions.
He also revealed that in the country, in three months, 11 000 women were raped.
He said they were raped by known people, in most cases by stepfathers and urged women to start speaking up.
“It’s better you go hungry than live with a dog in your house. If we find that you knew a child was raped and you kept quite as a parent, we need to arrest you as well,” he warned.
Cele also called on police not to die with their “tools” given to them by the state.
“There must be no mercy between police and a criminal. When the dust settles, we must not pick up a dead body of a police, but that of a criminal,” he said.