Family agony after two shootings
HIGH court interpreter Elliot Lunga Qukwana had arrived home late from work to join his family’s vigil for a murdered relative when he and two other relatives were killed on his porch.
His brother-in-law Mxolisi Zantsi and stepson, Melikhaya Zantsi, died with him on Friday.
Qukwana arrived home as the vigil was ending for his wife’s adopted brother, Odwa Sikemela, 21.
Sikemela had been shot dead on Sunday, July 20, near 47 Section in Philippi.
Moments before he was shot on his porch, Qukwana had arrived home and told his family there had been a shooting at the tavern metres from their home.
He had walked past a man who had been wounded, said Qukwana’s wife, Nobuntu Zantsi, who uses her maiden name.
“(Elliot) asked to speak to Melikhaya and Mxolisi outside,” she said yesterday.
“They were standing on the porch when we, sitting inside, heard shots go off.”
She recalled throwing herself to the floor.
“He (Qukwana) was my husband and best friend,” Nobuntu Zantsi said.
“He was not only an amazing father to his children, but children from the area would always come to him for help with their homework.”
Clutching pictures of her husband and loved ones, Nobuntu said she suspected her husband had seen who had pulled the trigger at the tavern, making him a target.
One of Nobuntu’s sisters, Nonceba Zantsi, said it was too painful for her to talk about what had happened to her two brothers, brother-in-law and nephew.
“It is too early for me to speak or even think about what happened.
“My wounds deep.”
Deputy Minister of Police Maggie Sotyu visited the family yesterday.
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She said that as a precaution, police would be present at the family’s vigils until the four men were buried.
The government needed to look at whether it was doing enough to combat crime.
“No other government in the world would you hear that four people were killed from the same family like this,” Sotyu said.
“We will not just sit with our hands folded and do nothing.”
Police were working around the clock to find the gunmen, Sotyu added.
It has not been established how many gunmen there were or how many shots were fired at Qukwana and the two other men.
Sikemela’s funeral had been planned for the weekend, but was postponed after the three other deaths.
Nobuntu said one funeral would held for the four men.
It has not been established why Sikemela was shot.
He had been adopted by the Zantsi sisters’ mother as a baby after his own mother had died.
Police spokesman FC van Wyk said that no arrests had been made by late yesterday.
Anyone with information should call Crime Stop on 08600 10111, which they may do anonymously, or SMS Crimeline on 32211.