Gugulethu massacre: Gang sends out grim video message warning of more carnage

Eight people between the ages of 30 and 40 died when two gunmen entered a house in NY78, Gugulethu, on Monday night and fired indiscriminately at the occupants. 

The perpetrators fled the scene in a waiting getaway car. It’s believed the crime was premeditated.

In the clip, the gang warns that this is a taste of things to come in the lead-up to the festive season.

Police have remained tight-lipped at the start of the investigation into the shootings.

Residents of Gugulethu, Khayelitsha, Crossroads, Nyanga and Browns Farm say the massacre is likely to be linked to the Boko Haram gang’s attempt to extort money from shebeens, spazas and other businesses. 

The Guptas gang is also allegedly part of this budding criminal network, but to a lesser extent.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a Gugulethu businessman said: “The Boko Haram gang are behind the spate of hijackings, murders, extorting money from property owners, cash-in-transit heists and demanding protection money.

“They are in control of the drugs, guns and everything that is illegal in the townships. This gang caused mayhem in most of the informal settlements in Cape Town and they have also spread their wings to George.”

The businessman says the gang was formed four years ago and community appeals for assistance – including from Police Minister Bheki Cele – have gone unheeded.

People in Cape Town’s townships were afraid of the Boko Haram gang, he said, with only taxi associations brave enough to stand up to them. However, elements in the taxi industry could be just as brutal, he said, and would not hesitate to retaliate.

“Residents in townships are so scared that many are contemplating relocating to a safer place. The Somalians, Nigerians and Chinese business people are at the mercy of these thugs. It is a case of ‘pay up or you get killed’. I’m afraid the streets of townships are going to be strewn with bodies,” the businessman said.

Police spokesperson Brigadier Novela Potelwa said the provincial organised crime unit was investigating the massacre.

Meanwhile, communities in gang-ravaged parts of the Cape Flats concur that the violence that erupted in Gugulethu is likely to spill over into Manenberg, Heideveld, Hanover Park, Lavender Hill, Elsies River, Valhalla Park, Bishop Lavis, Belhar and Mitchells Plain. 

There are fears of violence over the festive season.

“The Covid-19 regulations have robbed several drug and gang kingpins of millions of rands. They were unable to transport their drug shipments and used corrupt police officers to be the transporters,” said an anonymous resident.

With relaxed regulations, an all-out drug turf war in all gang-ravaged areas is feared.

“The unfortunate victims are going to be innocent children and individuals. Drug merchants need to make this up before Christmas when buyers run out of cash,” the community member said.

Byron de Villiers from the Lentegeur Community Policing Forum (CPF) said: “Last year this time around we had seven murders per day and in two weeks 27 people were killed. This time of year it’s an open market for alleged drug kingpins. 

“They target vulnerable people who are willing to do anything. We know the onslaught is coming, but when and the exact time the bullets are going to fly, we cannot say.”

Hanover Park’s CPF spokesperson Ebrahim Abrahams said the trend of violence occurs every year, in all gang-infested areas. The planning, he said, is done inside prison walls, where the 28s, 26s and other gangs plot who needs to be taken out.

“We have noticed every time when a person is released from prison problems seem to follow him and that person brings the heat along with him. Turf wars and violent clashes in areas are driven by drug merchants greedy to make more and more money.

“[In] the past week, six people have already been killed in Hanover Park and our greatest fear is that this number could be double figures during the festive season,” Abrahams said.

Meanwhile, in Manenberg, two people have been shot and killed and a woman returning from church suffered a severe asthma attack from the shock of the violence. She died at the scene.

Gershwin Arendse, 19, was shot and killed in Manenberg. (Photo supplied)