Deadly gang wars hit Khutsong
LATEST round of gang violence in Khutsong township has claimed a life and left two other people seriously injured.
The battle is between gangs from the township’s Extension 3 section and one from nearby Tambo Squatter informal settlement camp. The gangs of teens and youths in their 20s go by names such as Delta, Vandal, Creature, Casanova and Dela Kufa.
Two weeks ago, a young man was hacked to death, while a 42-year-old woman and a teenage boy survived in separate attacks in the area.
Yesterday, Sinethemba Benela’s family were finalising preparations for his funeral to be held this week.
Sinethemba, 19, who lived in Tambo was attacked and killed on August 13 because his gang was accused of attacking the injured woman and the boy with pangas.
The woman sustained a few stitches to her head and arm, while the boy had several stab wounds on his head, right ear, back and stomach.
According to Sinethemba’s mother, Zukiswa Benela, he was not part of any gang but was at the scene where rival gangs were fighting.
“I was told that he had gone with other community members to witness a fight. I only heard later that my son had been killed by the community of Extension 3,” Benela said.
However, the woman who was attacked denied this. Although she refused to be identified, she said she was at a public meeting discussing ways to prevent gang violence when a group of young men arrived.
“They started throwing stones at us and the boys who were in the meeting retaliated. Two gun shots were fired at us and we fled in different directions. I tripped and fell to the ground, that is when those boys, who were heavily armed with various weapons, arrived and attacked me.
“They hit me with a panga on my head and back. I managed to grab one of them who was carrying a panga. People arrived and they began assaulting the boy. He was beaten until he died,” she said.
The woman is living in fear after she received death threats at the weekend. She said she was told that her house would be set alight and her children would also be killed at their schools.
“I am afraid and can’t sleep at all. Those gangsters know who I am, where I live and where my children attend school. I am forever armed with weapons because I will not die without a fight,” she said.
The 16-year-old boy, a Grade 9 pupil at Badirile High School, said he was walking near his house at Tambo when a mob of youths pointed at him.
“They said I was one of them [gangsters] and then began stabbing me all over my body. I passed out and only gained consciousness at Leratong Hospital.
“I thought I was going to die. But I know them; once I recover I am going to lay charges against them.
They must pay for what they did,” he said.