Father left devastated by carnage
5 die in cold-blooded shooting, but no one heard any gunshots
THE cold-blooded murder of five people in Hillbrow has left residents of the Joburg suburb with more questions than answers.
Fikile Malembe, her daughter Luyanda, son Cherno and grandchild Mayihlome were found shot dead in their one-bedroom Madison Square flat on Monday evening.
The family’s new babysitter was also killed.
Her child, who is believed to be aged 12, was the only survivor.
According to the building manager and long-time resident Joshua Baloyi, Malembe had been living in the block of flats for 15 years, without incident.
“At about 7.45pm on Monday, a sub-tenant in Fikile’s flat told us he arrived at the flat to find people on the ground, bleeding from their noses. “I sent one of the security personnel with him, who confirmed the tragedy,” Baloyi said.
He said no one in the building heard the gunshots. “It was painful to learn none of them survived. When the paramedics arrived, we hoped that Luyanda’s year-old baby would make it, but I was later told he had died too,” he said.
“I had also arranged for Cherno’s father, Mustaffa Ndiyaye, to be called in. When he eventually arrived, he took the stairs two and three at a time, all the way up to the ninth-floor flat. It took several men to pull him out of the room. He was very emotional,” Baloyi said.
Ndiyaye was devastated when The Star visited the building yesterday.
The tall man with a large but lean frame was standing against the wall with his eyes tightly shut.
Tears leaked through his eyelids as his friends tried to console the grief-stricken father, to no avail.
Baloyi said that after news of the incident spread through the building, residents speculated that the killer might have gained entry through the on-site tuckshop. If residents don’t want to use the main entrance, they can go through the tuckshop to gain entry.
However, the shop’s owner, Ndubuisi Sam, disputed this.
“There is no way to go through the shop into the building. People always come here, buy what they need and leave. The shop is fitted with CCTV that the police came to check today. They didn’t see anything out of the ordinary,” Sam said.
“The only thing they saw that was of value to them is the little boy Cherno coming to buy a lollipop hours before they were killed,” he added.
Baloyi said that in all the years he’d worked in the building, there had been only one violent incident, about 10 years ago.
He said he was heartbroken because he was close to the family, especially Fikile.
“Fikile and I were close. She told me I reminded her so much of her father.
“She would often tell me about her life, and even ask for advice on certain issues from me,” he added.
Gauteng police Captain Mavela Masondo said the police did not have information about who could have committed the crime or what the motive was.
He said officers were investigating five charges of murder.
“The child found at the scene has been taken to a place of safety and we are now waiting for the family, who are travelling from KwaZulu-Natal to come collect her,” he added.
They didn’t see anything out of the ordinary