‘Lives shattered every day’ in suburb of murder
● Angelina Zenzile was robbed at gunpoint and forced to close her spaza shop. Her neighbour’s son was found chopped up. An American donor was hijacked at the gate of Zenzile’s crèche.
In Zenzile’s neighbourhood, you never know when death will strike — only that it will.
Zenzile, 71, has lived in Nyanga, Cape Town, for 36 years. This week it was again named SA’s worst suburb for murder.
Zenzile told of the “hellish life criminals are forcing us to live”. Her home resembles a jail, with high walls, gates and thick burglar bars. Doors are kept locked.
“My neighbour’s son will be buried on Wednesday. He was chopped by unknown people and no-one has been arrested. It is not unusual to come across a dead body in these streets. But no-one gets arrested. This is a horrible place to raise a child. Lives are shattered every day.”
Mass murder
The community has given up on the police. She stopped running a spaza shop a few years ago, when five young men — “children actually” — robbed her at gunpoint.
She then ran a crèche and an American donor was hijacked when she visited it.
Zenzile blames the crime on drugs, gangs and a lack of arrests and convictions.
A few kilometres from Nyanga is Marikana, an informal settlement of about 10,000 shacks and 60,000 people.
It was identified this week in the crime statistics as the scene of SA’s worst mass murder. Eleven community safety patrollers were gunned down in September last year. Six men, aged between 19 and 30, have been arrested and are due to appear in the high court in Cape Town next week.
Nonesi Jokazi’s son Lubabalo was one of those killed.
“I have not heard from the police since the day Lubabalo died,” said Jokazi. “My elder son tried to follow up with the investigating officer but nothing has come of it. I am hearing it for the first time that there are people who were arrested.”
The settlement is on private land and is at the centre of a legal battle.
Last year, the high court ruled that the City of Cape Town and the national and provincial housing ministers had infringed the constitutional rights of the landowners and residents.
One of the owners, Manfred Stocks, approached the Constitutional Court because “the high court failed to direct that the goodfaith negotiations between the city and [landowners] be based on the assumption that the properties are vacant”.
Xanthea Limberg, the mayoral committee member for informal settlements, said the high court’s ruling had been appealed.
Marikana community leader Daluxolo Naki said it was still dire. The only street into the settlement has huge potholes that fill up when it rains. Some residents have abandoned flooded homes on low-lying ground.
“Nothing has changed here,” said Naki. “The city recently installed one floodlight. The shacks still require reblocking, the toilets are inadequate. Policing is still appalling and we still hear gunshots at night and it could be a matter of time before another person is killed or injured.”