Ricky Phungula’s nephew Mxolisi and five other people were shot on Saturday night after they were forced out of the vehicle they were travelling in.
Police Minister Bheki Cele during nedia briefing where he gave deatil on policing during the COVID-19 lockdown. Tuesday, 22 September 2020: Picture: Twitter/@GovernmentZA
DURBAN – A KwaZulu-Natal man whose nephew was among those killed in one of two weekend attacks in KwaNdengezi near Pinetown said that the family was pinning its hopes on Police Minister Bheki Cele for justice.
Ricky Phungula’s nephew Mxolisi and five other people were shot on Saturday night after they were forced out of the vehicle they were travelling in.
In another incident, also at the weekend, four people were killed apparently after being accused of stock theft.
On Monday, Cele addressed a community meeting where he promised that senior police officials would work with other crime-fighting agencies to crack the cases.
#KwaNdengeziMurders EWN is at KwaNdengezi near Pinetown (KZN) where 9 people were killed in two separate incidents at the weekend. Police Minister Bheki Cele is expected to address affected families and concerned community members soon. @NkoRaphael pic.twitter.com/gO0ylCs78J
— EWN Reporter (@ewnreporter) September 28, 2020
Cele said that he was concerned about what he viewed as increasing lawlessness in KwaZulu-Natal.
While visiting KwaNdengezi on Monday, the minister urged the community to resist taking the law into their own hands.
Cele also promised to return to the area in two weeks’ time to give an update on investigations into the latest killings as well as other issues relating to policing in the province.
“We know that Inanda still leads on rape and Umlazi and all that. We just see people in the province waking up in the morning and digging the road. It looks like we need to come close.”
Phungula, whose family is grieving the loss of his nephew Mxolisi, is hopeful there will be a breakthrough soon.
“It’s bad for us because we didn’t expect it.”
There’ve been no arrests in connection with both weekend shootings as the KwaNdengezi community remains on edge.
