Man sought for murders is necklaced

Calls for end to mob justice defied

ANOTHER person has been necklaced in Etwatwa, Ekurhuleni, despite a series of community meetings and prayers to stop the gangsterism and vigilantism in the township.

The 35-year-old man was murdered on Saturday for allegedly killing two people with a spade on Friday and Saturday. He had apparently walked into a yard at the Barcelona informal settlement on Friday evening and urinated, according to police spokesman Warrant Officer Ramothakhi Maqabe.

When a woman, aged 55, who was in the yard asked why he had urinated there, the man picked up a spade and struck her on the head. “The woman died later at Netcare Union Hospital in Alberton,” said Maqabe.

On Saturday morning, while the man was being chased by the residents, he attacked another person with the same spade. The victim,a 35-year-old man, was declared dead on the scene.

Maqabe said a mob eventually caught up with the man and tied his feet with wire. He said the police suspected that he was stoned, after which the mob put a petrol-filled tyre around his neck and set it alight at a sportsfield in Barcelona around 10am.

“Police called for back-up, and upon arrival on the scene, they tried to remove the body from the burning tyre, but it was already burnt to ashes,” Maqabe said.

He added that three cases of murder were opened. No one had been arrested.

He appealed to anyone with information to contact the police, and urged residents to stop taking the law into their own hands.

Last month, Gauteng Community MEC Safety Sizakele NkosiMalobane held a meeting with the troubled community in an attempt to stop the warfare between residents and a gang called Overloaded, popularly known as OVL.

Sixteen-year-old twins Sabelo and Samkelo Mayisela were necklaced by a mob that accused them of being part of the OVL gang. Another youngster narrowly escaped death when the mob set a burning tractor tyre over his body.

During her visit, Nkosi-Malobane warned that vigilantism and gangsterism would not be tolerated.

Ekurhuleni mayor Mondli Gungubele sounded the same warning when he visited the families of the victims of the attacks last month.

PICTURE: BOXER NGWENYA GUTTED: Martha Nhleko looks into her son’s shack after it was burnt downed by a mob who suspected him of being a member of a gang that has been terrorising the Etwatwa community in Ekurhuleni.