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"contents": "<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mlamli Mgxada decided to deal with stock thieves as part of the Masifunisane Crime Prevention Forum in Bityi, a rural village 40km from </span><a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-10-27-mthatha-shopkeepers-under-siege-as-murders-and-robberies-spiral-out-of-control/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mthatha</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in the Eastern Cape.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Standing up to these criminals cost him his wife, who was gunned down three weeks ago, and seven family members, who were shot dead as they prepared to bury her.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mgxada has since fled his homestead. </span>\r\n\r\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-1472344 size-full\" src=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/MC_Mthatha2-Hoseya.jpg\" alt=\"eastern cape kodwa cele\" width=\"720\" height=\"423\" /> Deputy Minister of State Security Zizi Kodwa (left) and Minister Bheki Cele visited the Mgxada family on Tuesday. (Photo: Hoseya Jubase)</p>\r\n\r\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-1472345 size-full\" src=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/MC_Mthatha2-Hoseya_1.jpg\" alt=\"eastern cape police\" width=\"720\" height=\"444\" /> Police officers armed with automatic weapons talk to a Mgxada family member who also fears for his life. ( Photo: Hoseya Jubase)</p>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On Tuesday, he was visited by Bheki Cele and Zizi Kodwa. Police officers armed with automatic weapons guarded the home where they were meeting.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“I did nothing wrong. I am just a member of Masifunisane Forum and we are dealing with the stock theft here,” Mgxada said.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“They came to look for me. They killed my wife. Then they killed seven of my family members… They are saying I am the one who is exposing their wrong deeds and they want me dead,” he said.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The seven members of Mgxada’s family were: Notawuzile Fukuzana (68), Nokulunga Mgxada (38), Ntombelanga Mgxada (42), Mkangeli Nomasango (age unknown), Pumzile Mgxada (30) and Nkosikona Mgxada (29).</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The deceased are expected to be laid to rest on Thursday.</span>\r\n<h4><b>‘I am hiding to protect my life’</b></h4>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“I am scared. They can kill me any time. I am no longer sleeping in this house. I am hiding somewhere protecting my life… I will return to my house the day I receive the news that these thugs are arrested, but not now,” he said.</span>\r\n\r\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-1472347 size-full\" src=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/MC_Mthatha2-Hoseya_3.jpg\" alt=\"eastern cape Mlamli Mgxada\" width=\"720\" height=\"441\" /> Mlamli Mgxada (left), the father of the Mgxada family who is wanted dead by alleged organised thugs and Zibuzele Cobotwana, a relative, listen to Minister of Police Bheki Cele. (Photo: Hoseya Jubase)</p>\r\n\r\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-1472350 size-full\" src=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/MC_Mthatha2-Hoseya_5.jpg\" alt=\"Novotile Mgxada\" width=\"720\" height=\"443\" /> The grave of Novotile Mgxada, who was shot and killed two weeks ago after a group of men entered her house looking for her husband Mlamli Mgxada. (Photo: Hoseya Jubase)</p>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to a police incident report, the attack on the seven mourners took place on Wednesday, 16 November at about 11.30pm. Three unknown men forced their way into the homestead and opened fire. Six people died at the scene and a seventh in hospital.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the past two weeks, 20 people have been gunned down in areas around Bityi, according to Bhovulengwe Mtirarathe, chief of the Matyengqina administrative area.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“People are being killed daily in the surrounding areas and people are afraid to speak out because they are fearing for their lives,” he said.</span>\r\n<h4><b>‘Review the laws’</b></h4>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">During his visit, Kodwa called on the government to review the laws of the country to protect the victims.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“We have to review the laws… the ANC is heading to an elective conference and they need to review the laws of this country. The laws are meant to protect the vulnerable, but there is a sense in the society that criminal justice and law is no longer protecting them. That has the potential to create social instability in the country, and therefore we shouldn’t run away from this issue.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“The perception now is that the laws of the country favour criminals… it’s important to review the current legislation and we need to make sure people still have confidence in criminal justice as a whole,” he added.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Police minister Bheki Cele expressed shock at the ongoing instability around Mthatha, saying they planned to come back and spend a few days in the Mthatha area.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“This is one of the biggest provinces. We have been in Mthatha. We have been in Port St Johns. We have tried to work with the leadership here,” Cele said.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He added: “The next visit we planned is to spend some days visiting the police precinct. There are problems here. There is a shortage of resources from our side, including personnel. We can work on other resources quicker. Personnel will take some time.</span>\r\n<h4><b>‘Organised criminality’</b></h4>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“There is a very organised criminality going on around here… people who work in the justice system doing things they are not supposed to do… the commissioners are here. Both national and provincial. It will only allow people to relax if we find these people who committed this crime.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“But we found the community divided. The police cannot help one side against the other side. But we will apprehend everybody we believe has committed a crime,” Cele said.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“We want to bring everybody that has to do with anything in the police, from the national commissioner with his deputies, the head of the Hawks, because there is serious organised crime around here, especially… the </span><a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-10-11-hawks-arrest-eastern-cape-trio-in-alleged-r40m-government-buildings-rental-scam/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">hijacking of buildings</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the taxi violence issues.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“We want to come for three weeks and work on those things. The amakhosi (traditional leaders) have invited us for an imbizo.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“We want to pass on our condolences for what has happened here (in Bityi), but our condolences will only be realised once we have done our work and we arrest (the criminals),” Cele said.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“The first thing we need to fix is this long list of victims and a short list of people apprehended for the crime… We must find them and put them to the law.”</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He promised to enhance the investigative capabilities of the police, if needed. </span>\r\n\r\n<b>Visit </b><a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/?utm_source=direct&utm_medium=in_article_link&utm_campaign=homepage\"><b><i>Daily Maverick’s</i></b><b> home page</b></a><b> for more news, analysis and investigations</b>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Last Friday, while speaking at the funeral of four children in </span><a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-11-17-ngcobo-mother-accused-of-murdering-her-four-children-collapses-before-bail-hearing/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ngcobo</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, who had been killed with a sledgehammer wielded by their mother, Eastern Cape premier Oscar Mabuyane referred to the Bityi massacre, saying he had requested an urgent meeting with Cele.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“We must address this before it gets out of hand… We cannot allow these criminals to terrorise our province like this. We are not used to such things. There are guns everywhere,” Mabuyane said.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The premier said he had also written to Cele for help with improved intelligence capacity in the province.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“We are no longer just talking about vulnerable urban areas,” he said, adding that the rural areas had become highly vulnerable to crime as armed criminals fled from the cities to hide in the mountains.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Acting provincial commissioner Major General Thandiswa Kupiso expressed her shock at the murder of the seven mourners in Bityi. She has directed that a team be assigned to investigate the killings. </span><b>DM/MC</b>",
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"description": "<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mlamli Mgxada decided to deal with stock thieves as part of the Masifunisane Crime Prevention Forum in Bityi, a rural village 40km from </span><a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-10-27-mthatha-shopkeepers-under-siege-as-murders-and-robberies-spiral-out-of-control/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mthatha</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in the Eastern Cape.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Standing up to these criminals cost him his wife, who was gunned down three weeks ago, and seven family members, who were shot dead as they prepared to bury her.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mgxada has since fled his homestead. </span>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1472344\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"720\"]<img class=\"wp-image-1472344 size-full\" src=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/MC_Mthatha2-Hoseya.jpg\" alt=\"eastern cape kodwa cele\" width=\"720\" height=\"423\" /> Deputy Minister of State Security Zizi Kodwa (left) and Minister Bheki Cele visited the Mgxada family on Tuesday. (Photo: Hoseya Jubase)[/caption]\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1472345\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"720\"]<img class=\"wp-image-1472345 size-full\" src=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/MC_Mthatha2-Hoseya_1.jpg\" alt=\"eastern cape police\" width=\"720\" height=\"444\" /> Police officers armed with automatic weapons talk to a Mgxada family member who also fears for his life. ( Photo: Hoseya Jubase)[/caption]\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On Tuesday, he was visited by Bheki Cele and Zizi Kodwa. Police officers armed with automatic weapons guarded the home where they were meeting.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“I did nothing wrong. I am just a member of Masifunisane Forum and we are dealing with the stock theft here,” Mgxada said.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“They came to look for me. They killed my wife. Then they killed seven of my family members… They are saying I am the one who is exposing their wrong deeds and they want me dead,” he said.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The seven members of Mgxada’s family were: Notawuzile Fukuzana (68), Nokulunga Mgxada (38), Ntombelanga Mgxada (42), Mkangeli Nomasango (age unknown), Pumzile Mgxada (30) and Nkosikona Mgxada (29).</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The deceased are expected to be laid to rest on Thursday.</span>\r\n<h4><b>‘I am hiding to protect my life’</b></h4>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“I am scared. They can kill me any time. I am no longer sleeping in this house. I am hiding somewhere protecting my life… I will return to my house the day I receive the news that these thugs are arrested, but not now,” he said.</span>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1472347\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"720\"]<img class=\"wp-image-1472347 size-full\" src=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/MC_Mthatha2-Hoseya_3.jpg\" alt=\"eastern cape Mlamli Mgxada\" width=\"720\" height=\"441\" /> Mlamli Mgxada (left), the father of the Mgxada family who is wanted dead by alleged organised thugs and Zibuzele Cobotwana, a relative, listen to Minister of Police Bheki Cele. (Photo: Hoseya Jubase)[/caption]\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1472350\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"720\"]<img class=\"wp-image-1472350 size-full\" src=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/MC_Mthatha2-Hoseya_5.jpg\" alt=\"Novotile Mgxada\" width=\"720\" height=\"443\" /> The grave of Novotile Mgxada, who was shot and killed two weeks ago after a group of men entered her house looking for her husband Mlamli Mgxada. (Photo: Hoseya Jubase)[/caption]\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to a police incident report, the attack on the seven mourners took place on Wednesday, 16 November at about 11.30pm. Three unknown men forced their way into the homestead and opened fire. Six people died at the scene and a seventh in hospital.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the past two weeks, 20 people have been gunned down in areas around Bityi, according to Bhovulengwe Mtirarathe, chief of the Matyengqina administrative area.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“People are being killed daily in the surrounding areas and people are afraid to speak out because they are fearing for their lives,” he said.</span>\r\n<h4><b>‘Review the laws’</b></h4>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">During his visit, Kodwa called on the government to review the laws of the country to protect the victims.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“We have to review the laws… the ANC is heading to an elective conference and they need to review the laws of this country. The laws are meant to protect the vulnerable, but there is a sense in the society that criminal justice and law is no longer protecting them. That has the potential to create social instability in the country, and therefore we shouldn’t run away from this issue.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“The perception now is that the laws of the country favour criminals… it’s important to review the current legislation and we need to make sure people still have confidence in criminal justice as a whole,” he added.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Police minister Bheki Cele expressed shock at the ongoing instability around Mthatha, saying they planned to come back and spend a few days in the Mthatha area.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“This is one of the biggest provinces. We have been in Mthatha. We have been in Port St Johns. We have tried to work with the leadership here,” Cele said.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He added: “The next visit we planned is to spend some days visiting the police precinct. There are problems here. There is a shortage of resources from our side, including personnel. We can work on other resources quicker. Personnel will take some time.</span>\r\n<h4><b>‘Organised criminality’</b></h4>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“There is a very organised criminality going on around here… people who work in the justice system doing things they are not supposed to do… the commissioners are here. Both national and provincial. It will only allow people to relax if we find these people who committed this crime.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“But we found the community divided. The police cannot help one side against the other side. But we will apprehend everybody we believe has committed a crime,” Cele said.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“We want to bring everybody that has to do with anything in the police, from the national commissioner with his deputies, the head of the Hawks, because there is serious organised crime around here, especially… the </span><a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-10-11-hawks-arrest-eastern-cape-trio-in-alleged-r40m-government-buildings-rental-scam/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">hijacking of buildings</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the taxi violence issues.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“We want to come for three weeks and work on those things. The amakhosi (traditional leaders) have invited us for an imbizo.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“We want to pass on our condolences for what has happened here (in Bityi), but our condolences will only be realised once we have done our work and we arrest (the criminals),” Cele said.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“The first thing we need to fix is this long list of victims and a short list of people apprehended for the crime… We must find them and put them to the law.”</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He promised to enhance the investigative capabilities of the police, if needed. </span>\r\n\r\n<b>Visit </b><a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/?utm_source=direct&utm_medium=in_article_link&utm_campaign=homepage\"><b><i>Daily Maverick’s</i></b><b> home page</b></a><b> for more news, analysis and investigations</b>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Last Friday, while speaking at the funeral of four children in </span><a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-11-17-ngcobo-mother-accused-of-murdering-her-four-children-collapses-before-bail-hearing/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ngcobo</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, who had been killed with a sledgehammer wielded by their mother, Eastern Cape premier Oscar Mabuyane referred to the Bityi massacre, saying he had requested an urgent meeting with Cele.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“We must address this before it gets out of hand… We cannot allow these criminals to terrorise our province like this. We are not used to such things. There are guns everywhere,” Mabuyane said.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The premier said he had also written to Cele for help with improved intelligence capacity in the province.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“We are no longer just talking about vulnerable urban areas,” he said, adding that the rural areas had become highly vulnerable to crime as armed criminals fled from the cities to hide in the mountains.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Acting provincial commissioner Major General Thandiswa Kupiso expressed her shock at the murder of the seven mourners in Bityi. She has directed that a team be assigned to investigate the killings. </span><b>DM/MC</b>",
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"summary": "Minister of Police Bheki Cele and Deputy Minister of State Security Zizi Kodwa on Tuesday called for urgent legal reform to help in the fight against crime. This came as an Eastern Cape father told them of the bitter price he paid for taking a stand against stock thieves in his village — his wife and seven family members were gunned down in his house in two separate incidents.",
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"search_description": "<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mlamli Mgxada decided to deal with stock thieves as part of the Masifunisane Crime Prevention Forum in Bityi, a rural village 40km from </span><a href=\"https://www.dail",
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"social_description": "<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mlamli Mgxada decided to deal with stock thieves as part of the Masifunisane Crime Prevention Forum in Bityi, a rural village 40km from </span><a href=\"https://www.dail",
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Deputy Minister of State Security Zizi Kodwa (left) and Minister Bheki Cele visited the Mgxada family on Tuesday. (Photo: Hoseya Jubase)
Police officers armed with automatic weapons talk to a Mgxada family member who also fears for his life. ( Photo: Hoseya Jubase)
Mlamli Mgxada (left), the father of the Mgxada family who is wanted dead by alleged organised thugs and Zibuzele Cobotwana, a relative, listen to Minister of Police Bheki Cele. (Photo: Hoseya Jubase)
The grave of Novotile Mgxada, who was shot and killed two weeks ago after a group of men entered her house looking for her husband Mlamli Mgxada. (Photo: Hoseya Jubase)