Call for national intervention after E Cape mass killings

Both Abathembu King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo and premier Oscar Mabuyane have expressed shock at a recent spate of mass killings in the Eastern Cape.

Last week seven family members were mowed down in their own home in Tantseka village, near the king’s Bumbane Great Place in Mthatha.

Mabuyane, who described 2022 as the worst year for killings in the province, said he had written to police minister Bheki Cele, calling for national police intervention to deal with this crisis.

The seven Magxada family members died in a hail of bullets on Wednesday night when gunmen opened fire on the rondavel where the family were mourning the death of the homeowner’s wife, who was gunned down on November 8.

“We have appealed for national intervention in terms of police deployment, resources and all the necessary assistance,” Mabuyane said.

“Our communities are under siege and our police are overstretched. We have illegal guns planted everywhere, all in the wrong hands.

“There are killings everywhere in the province — in Bityi, Gqeberha, Tantseka, Qutubeni in Ngcobo, and in Majola in Port St Johns, because there are guns everywhere.

“The police minister must assist in dealing with this and prevent such bloodbaths.

“Can you tell how people can come and gun down seven members of a mourning family, then come back to try and eliminate all the remaining family members?

“It looks like all the illegal guns are planted in our communities. People are killed in our areas every day; they die in large numbers.

“I have written a letter to the police minister last week stating that the Eastern Cape now needs national attention, national support in resources, and capacity of our police.

“Our community is terrorised and scared to stay in their homesteads. The year 2022 is a terrible year in terms of crime.

“This year has been very bad; it’s a bloodbath everywhere.

“We are closing the year 2022 on a very bad note,” Mabuyane said.

“We must collectively work with traditional leaders and civil society to reclaim our communities. Intelligence agencies must up their game.

“Thugs who commit crimes in the Western Cape, Kwazulunatal and Gauteng come and hide here, and then they continue committing crimes even here.”

King Dalindyebo said it was high time the government and traditional leaders stopped playing the blame game and united on fighting crime and in addressing problems.

He said all members of society should play a role in fighting

Our communities are under siege and our police are overstretched. We have illegal guns planted everywhere, all in the wrong hands

crime.

“I call for peace. All people must work towards establishing a peaceful crime-free nation.

“This is a very painful situation, that one family lost seven members in one attack.

“This is more of a social illness than a criminal act.

“In addition to all that is happening in my area, we have a mother who has allegedly butchered all her children.

“All these need us, both the state and traditional leaders, to come together,” he said.

The king said the killing of the seven people at Tantseka village started after three young men were found murdered and their bodies decomposed.

“The three were killed in a brutal manner and now we have seven family members gunned down in cold blood.

“We have a problem of people blaming each other when these things happen.

“If it is not the police blaming us as traditional leaders, it is us blaming the police.

“If it is not us blaming the police, it is us blaming the government. The blame game is not assisting our society.

“We must just stop blaming each other. Instead we must all work together for the safety of the people we lead.

“We must sit down and fix the social ills our communities are facing.

“We have a sick nation, a nation in desperation.

“The nation needs to come together and do something about these social ills.

“It is always advisable to prevent rather than cure.

“To save lives, we must be proactive, not reactive.

“I’d like all the parties involved in this fighting to come to us and we talk.

“There is no problem that cannot be solved.

“Let us stop vigilantism. Let us eliminate vigilante groups that do not work well with the state or traditional leadership,” Dalindyebo said.