Assistant manager shot outside his workplace

SHORTLY after arriving at work last Wednesday, an assistant manager at a hardware store in Demat Road, Chatsworth, was shot and killed.

Haroon Shaik Cassim, 30, a father of three, was shot while seated in his car.

Ebrahim Shaik Cassim, his elder brother and a manager at the same shop, said: “Why would someone do this to him? He had no enemies. He would never hurt a fly.”

He said their families lived on the same property – a few doors away from the shop.

“That morning, I dropped my children off at school, and when I returned home, I saw his car idling in the garage. When I entered my house, I saw him going to his vehicle on my CCTV cameras. I was in the bathroom when I heard loud sounds.

“I shouted for my wife as I wanted to know what was happening. She said, from the cameras, she saw people running on the road. A few seconds later. I got a call that Haroon was shot.

“I drove to our workplace and found him sitting upright in the driver’s seat. His eyes were closed, and there was some blood on his shirt. But I could not see a gunshot wound. Our colleague, who lived and travelled with us, was in the back seat. He was unharmed.”

He said a friend helped them put his sibling into his car.

“We took him to the hospital, but shortly thereafter, the doctor said my brother had died.”

Cassim said he was told a white bakkie had stopped behind Haroon’s vehicle as he was about to enter the premises. A man allegedly fired at his brother’s vehicle and drove off.

“My brother’s vehicle rolled onto the premises, and our colleague pulled the handbrake to prevent it from crashing.”

He said his brother started working at the shop about 11 years ago.

“After he matriculated, I got him the job while he submitted his CV to different companies. But he continued to work at the shop and was promoted from a buyer to an assistant manager. He was a hard worker. Customers still ask for him.

“Haroon was family-oriented, and we had a close bond. Our families went out together almost every weekend. Just two weeks ago, we holidayed on the south coast, and two days before he was killed, he told our cousin to book accommodation at Umdloti Beach for this weekend.

“He was the best husband, father and brother. Haroon was an innocent man who was robbed of his life.”

Haroon’s funeral was held at the Shallcross Muslim Cemetery last Wednesday.

Lieutenant-Colonel Nqobile Gwala, a provincial police spokesperson, said a case of murder was being investigated.