Seven mourners gunned down in horror attack
Family wiped out while preparing to bury slain relative in village near Qunu
Residents of the small village of Tantseka, in the Sithebe administrative area, a stone’s throw from the Bumbane Great Place, are terrified after seven people were killed in a hail of bullets late on Wednesday.
The victims were reportedly in mourning, preparing to bury a relative who had been gunned down in the same household on Tuesday last week.
Eastern Cape police have appealed to community members to assist in trying to catch the killers.
A shocked acting provincial police commissioner Maj-gen Thandiswa Kupiso has directed that a team of policing units be assigned to investigate.
Provincial police spokesperson Colonel Priscilla Naidu said the shootings were understood to have happened shortly before midnight.
“Three unknown armed men forced their way into a homestead in Tantseka and opened fire,” she said.
“Six people succumbed to their injuries at the scene while a seventh victim died in hosrushed to hospital. Police had not allowed him to view the bodies of his slain relatives.
Mgxada dispelled rumours that the hit on his family could have been linked to an antistock theft vigilante group, of which they were members.
He said they had joined the group so they could be helped when they fell foul of stock thieves.
OR Tambo district police commissioner Maj-gen Phumzile Cetyana visited the scene on Thursday.
One of Mgxada’s neighbours, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the entire village was frightened after the incident.
It was the third time someone had been killed in Tantseka recently.
He described Mgxada’s family as very peaceful.
“I am 72 and I have never witnessed something like this.”
Meanwhile, Abathembu King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo’s trusted right-hand man and traditional leader in Tantseka, Nkosi Thanduxolo Mtirara, said the royals were shocked at what had befallen Mgxada’s family.
The incident had left them distraught and deeply saddened.
“We don’t know what the motive is. We are not accus