Women, boys among dead after gunmen mow down shack occupants in Paarl

Five bodies were discovered after police responded to a complaint on Chris Hani Street in Mbekweni, Paarl, at 11.15pm. The killers allegedly broke open the door of a shack and opened fire. All the victims were shot in the head.

The deceased were Olwethu Sompani (34), Mbekweni Zimkhitha Solani (39), Chandre Horn (32), Ntlantla Solani (14) and Simphiwe Solani (12). The neighbourhood was in darkness owing to rolling blackouts at the time of the massacre. Nine cartridges were found on the bloody scene.

According to a preliminary police report, inquiries in the area and bystander accounts indicate that the attackers were looking for a person named Zuko, a cousin of Solani. ANC ward councillor Luvuyo Bolani confirmed this.

Zuko was not in the shack at the time, but when he arrived at the scene of the murders at 10.30am on Tuesday he was apprehended.

According to Bolani – who visited Mbekweni and residents on Tuesday – the incident is unrelated to the continuing taxi violence.

“The perpetrators arrived in search of Zuko, a tsotsi, who is a family member of one of the deceased. For more than five years he is said to have terrorised the community. He’s been suspected of robbing people and breaking into houses in the neighbourhood,” Bolani alleged.

He urged residents to remain calm, not to take matters into their own hands and to let the law run its course.

Reagen Allen, the MEC for police oversight and community safety in the Western Cape, said the shooting was “absolutely horrific”.

“We cannot allow the criminal element to cheapen life in this manner, and I call on our communities to work with us so that this does not anchor itself in any area. The protection of our women and children is critical, and we all should play a role in theirs and our own safekeeping,” he added.

Police spokesperson Colonel Andrè Traut said the motive for the murders is yet to be determined, and at this stage there is no indication that they are linked to the taxi strike in the province.

Anyone with information is urged to call Crime Stop on 08600 10111 or use the mobile application My SAPS anonymously.

The two women were killed a day before Women’s Day, which marks 9 August 1956 when 20,000 women of all races marched to the Union Buildings in Pretoria in protest against the unjust pass laws.

President Cyril Ramaphosa was scheduled to deliver a Women’s Day address at Khayelitsha Rugby Stadium on Wednesday, but due to security concerns amid the ongoing strike violence he will now deliver it at the Union Buildings.

Read more in Daily Maverick: Western Cape taxi strike Day 6 – Ramaphosa’s Women’s Day address shifts to Pretoria from ‘high-risk’ Cape Town

Police crime statistics show that in the first three months of 2023, 969 women were killed, 1,0512 were raped, there were 1,485 cases of attempted murder, and 15,000 women were assaulted. DM