With the last two murders still fresh in the memories of Imizamo Yethu residents, another murder has rocked the area.
On Tuesday September 30, a 30-year-old man was shot and killed close to the taxi rank, kick-starting a wave of fears.
Community members would only speak anonymously about the latest murder which they believe was linked to the last two murders which had IY turned on its head.
Two men believed to be members of a local neighbourhood patrol were shot and killed in IY two weeks ago, with police struggling to obtain information from the community that could lead to an arrest, and no witnesses prepared to speak, (“Another bloody weekend in Hout Bay”, Sentinel News, September 23).
One resident in IY told Sentinel News: “We are hearing it was a revenge killing, but there are so many different stories going around, you don’t know what to believe.”
However, he said, residents were fearing the worst as tensions rose in IY.
“People are afraid to speak because they will get hurt and if they say anything wrong, people will turn on them. Police and maybe even the army must come in here and remove all these rotten apples from our community,” the resident said.
Meanwhile, community leader Kenny Tokwe confirmed that that people were speculating that the two incident were linked, but urged residents to let police do their jobs.
“It is being said that this was another a revenge killing but it is all alleged now and there are many stories, but police have to do their work and investigate these matters,” Mr Tokwe said.
“With all these shootings and incidents, people are getting very worried and there is too much fear currently gripping our community, because we don’t know who is fighting with who,” he said.
Hout Bay Community Police Forum chairperson, Anthony Chemaly, said he was very concerned about the shootings and that urgent meetings had been convened with senior police to discuss the problems Hout Bay was facing.
He confirmed that the two men shot two weekends ago had been prominent members of a local neighbourhood patrol.
“The CPF will continue to apply pressure to SAPS to fully investigate the murders,“ he said.
Meanwhile SAPS confirmed that Hout Bay police were investigating the latest shooting incident involving the 30-year-old man who was shot and killed in OR Tambo Road.
Provincial police spokesperson, Captain Frederick van Wyk, said police were struggling to tie down witnesses who may have seen the shootings and did not rule out the possibility of the cases being linked.
“At this stage, there is no witnesses that saw the shooting and we can’t say if the murder is linked to previous murders. All the possibilities are being investigated,” Captain van Wyk said.
“Be advised that the rise in shooting incidents in Imizamo Yethu is a great concern and we urge the community to come forward with any information they have.”
Anybody with information can contact Crime Stop on 08600 10111 or the Hout Bay Police Station on 021 791 8660.
