Dusi champ’s cousins gunned down
THIS year’s Non-Stop Dusi Canoe Marathon champion Sbonelo Khwela and his family are asking for information about two people who stormed his family home in Shongweni on Thursday night. His two teenage cousins were gunned down during the attack by two armed men.
A shocked Khwela said last night that his 65-year-old grandmother was home with the two boys Nkosingiphile Vilakazi, 15, who was a Grade 10 pupil at Margot Fonteyn High School, and Mxolisi Mzimela, 18, a Grade 11 pupil at Thokozamnganga High School.
“They were too young and I don’t believe they could have done anything to anyone for them to be killed in such a brutal manner.
“As a family we’re still very puzzled by this and we have our ears to the ground. We’re also asking the community to help with information because we want to know why this happened,” said Khwela.
Mzimela had just celebrated his 18th birthday the previous Friday.
Khwela’s uncle, Sandile, who received a call from his mother after the incident said he never imagined he would lose loved ones in such a way.
“My mother told me that she had been with the two boys in the family’s main home and at around 8:15 the two left for their room which is not in the main house.”
THE aunt of 21-year-old Siyabonga Ngcobo, who was kidnapped and locked in the boot of his Taxify car before it was set alight in Pretoria in March, says she will not rest until justice for her nephew is done.
“He was a part of me and I can’t just let this go. Even if it takes forever I won’t stop till I get something from (the police),” said Buhle Mbonambi yesterday.
Ngcobo, a final year sports management student at the Tshwane University of Technology, had only been driving the taxi for a week before he was killed. There was speculation that it could be linked to the ongoing tussle between metered taxi drivers and newcomers Taxify and Uber.
A week after Ngcobo’s death, a memorial service was held for him at TUT’s main campus, where students called for peace between metered taxi drivers and their competitors.
Mbonambi spoke to the The Independent on Saturday this week about her grief over the loss of her nephew.
Protea Glen police have also made no arrests after another Taxify murder.
Last Thursday, the body of Taxify driver Moipolai “Heavy” Sekati from Diepkloof was found by his relatives at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital mortuary. He had two bullet wounds.
Dobsonville police spokesperson Constable Mzwakhe Xazi said Sekati was reported missing on Thursday by his family after not returning from work the day before.
He said the family spent last Thursday scouring hospitals, police stations and mortuaries looking for him.
“It was then discovered that he was murdered in Protea Glen and the car he was driving was found torched in Dobsonville.
“Protea Glen police are investigating a case of murder and investigations still continue,” said Mzwakhe.
While Sunnyside police told The Independent on Saturday there had been no breakthrough on the case, Mbonambi said she saw the news of Sekati’s killing in the papers, and this made her think of his family and the pain they are going through, especially not knowing who took the life of their loved one.
She added that she constantly telephoned the investigating officer in the matter to find out how the investigation is going.
“It’s frustrating for the family to have no arrests at this stage, whereas police have informed me that they know who the suspects are.
“I have been told that the Hawks are also working on the case,” she said.
Mbonambi also revealed that last week the Hawks went back to the scene where Ngcobo’s car was found torched.
“Police also believe these suspects had planned the killing.”
Sunnyside police spokesperson Captain Daniel Mavimbela said on Tuesday that there had been no results in their investigation.