Residents living in fear
SONDELA: 11 MURDERS IN PAST WEEK IN NORTH WEST INFORMAL SETTLEMENTS
Police swoop on area and arrest six people in connection with the killings.
People in Sondela informal settlement about 7km outside Rustenburg in North West live in fear following the murder of 11 people in the past week.
“We do not sleep at night, we sit on chairs waiting to see what the night brings, others sleep at the garage fearing for their lives.
“People are moving out of this place.
“They move out under the cover of darkness as they do not want to be seen as fleeing.
“We cannot move out because we have nowhere to go,” said a woman who did not want to be identified.
She said when night falls, the area becomes scary.
“We do not feel safe, the police do not enter this area, they are also scared.
“Soldiers should be deployed here,” she said.
Grisly cellphone pictures on social networks show three men, one lying face down with a burnt tyre around his neck and another on his back with a tyre around his neck.
A third man is draped in a blanket and lies face down with a tyre around his neck. There is a stick next to his body.
Sondela informal settlement is home to people from various ethnic groups.
They they have been living together peacefully until what appears to be ethnic killings began in August 2018, when a Sotho man and a Xhosa man fought over a woman.
The Xhosa allegedly stabbed the Sotho man, who was admitted to hospital.
A few days later, the Xhosa man went to watch a soccer match and a group of Basotho men beat him up.
Since then, people have been found dead in the informal settlement, apparently in reprisal killings.
On November 17, a group of Xhosa men went to a house where they found a Sotho who was living with his brother in a room he rented on the property.
Th Xhosa men claimed to be carrying out raids in search of dangerous weapons. They allegedly broke into the house and found a firearm.
They demanded to know where the landlord was and when the Sotho man could not tell them, they allegedly beat him with hammers and forced him to take them to his brother.
They beat the brothers, smashing their heads with hammers and then dragged them out of the house to an opened veld where they allegedly set them alight.
By November 24, six people were found dead in different areas of Sondela. Some were stabbed and others were burnt.
On November 24, Basotho men armed with axes, spears and pangas stormed into houses, breaking windows and doors. They allegedly kidnapped four men and a woman.
Three of the men and the woman were found dead, burnt with tyres, and the fourth man was stabbed in the neck with a sharp object. His nose was cut off.
The police swooped on the area and arrested six people, all of whom appeared in court last week.
The police say that they are expecting to arrest more people in connection with the killings.
In 2015, Sondela made news headlines when five teenagers were necklaced (putting a burning tyre around the neck) for allegedly killing a 30-year-old man.
A video of the incident went viral, showing how the boys screamed as they burnt. – ANA