Johannesburg – Four of the eight victims of the Zandspruit’s vicious mob attack were laid to rest on Saturday at different emotionally charged funeral services held at the West Park Cemetery.
Mwezi Magidla, Ntando Ndlovu, Irvin Malley and Abel Seapi (aged between 21 and 32) are among the nine that were murdered by angry community members after they were alleged to belong to a gang said to have terrorised residents of the squalid informal settlement.
According to various reports, the men were rounded up by a group of angry community members in the early hours of May 19th, dragged to a local soccer ground where they were beaten with stones, sjamboks and axes before being set alight for allegedly robbing, raping and committing all sorts of crimes in the community. One man survived the attack and was still in hospital.
Police have arrested six men for the killings and their case was postponed to June 9. They were remanded in custody.
The mood was celebratory as some residents came out and lined the streets, others drinking while the funeral procession was taking place. A few people spoke out against the vigilante attack and some remained nonchalant, but the killings have divided the community.
Along Zandspruit extension 16, a throng of locals stood outside their homes in their gowns and some with beer in their hands, waiting to watch Magidla and Ndlovu’s funeral processions as they made their way to the cemetery.
The two funerals took place just a few metres from each other on Eric Street.
A lady, who asked not to be named, said she didn’t feel sorry for the victims of the mob justice because they were troublesome.
“I am fine here watching the funeral. I don’t want to go there,” she said before dismissing us with a “hai those boys were very naughty,” and walked away.
A gentleman, who had a beer in hand, said it was safe not to say anything as he too may be attacked.
“I believe that if the police were doing their job in protecting the masses, this would not have happened,” he said.
But just around the corner, a group of ladies were busy getting ready for one of the funerals. Among them was Mary Mokeona, who said she was saddened by the killings because she knew Magidla and Ndlovu when they were still babies.
“These boys have been living in this community since its inception in 1994. When Masakhane Primary School was launched, they were the first group of pupils to attend, including the crèches and other educational structures that were established here.
“These two boys grew up with my first born child and I took them as my own. Their brutal death is just scary because there really is no hard proof to support these allegations and if there was proof, I believe adults were supposed to gather these boys and hand them over to the police. Not kill them like that,” she said as she put on the final touches on her nails before exiting her yard.
“Crime in Zandspruit has been a problem for us for many years. We hear of people being mugged, killed and dumped in disposal areas almost everyday, and this dates back as far as when these two (Ndlovu and Magidla) were still in school. So it is very hard to believe or to dismiss these accusations because crime is something we found here in Honeydew,” added Mokoena.
Mathapelo Tlhape said the community’s anger was misdirected and should be directed to the police and the government for forgetting about the residents.
“I mean, a day after this brutal act of violence, my sister’s house was broken into in the wee hours of Thursday morning. So how many more deaths must we have in our community before the government takes us seriously? For years we have been complaining but our pleas fall on deaf ears,” she said.
Further down the road, a group of Ndlovu’s friends, who fondly refer to him as Demo, said they were angry.
“They have killed our friends, these are people we grew up with and it doesn’t feel right knowing that we could also be targeted without cause one day,” said Mandla Ndlovu, who is not related to Demo.
“Yes, we agree that they’ve been doing crime but not to the extent that they were killed like this. All they did was steal phones here and there but they were not killers and didn’t deserve to be killed,” he said.
Sunday Independent
Credit IOL