Cape Town - Police launched a 72-hour activation plan, to track down the killers of three young women, who were shot execution style, in the TT Block informal settlement, in Khayelitsha, on Monday night.
The bodies of the three friends, Unam Bless, 17, Siyasanga Nkasela, 20, and Zintle Meloni, 21, were discovered with bullet wounds to their heads, in a passage between the shacks at the informal settlement.
Police spokesperson Brigadier Novela Potelwa said the police have instituted the 72-hour activation plan, for the mobilisation of resources in search of suspects, who shot and killed the three young women.
Potelwa said reports from the scene indicated that residents at the TT Block informal settlement recalled hearing gunshots after 8pm.
“A few minutes later, the bodies of young women, aged 17, 20 and 21, were discovered in a passage between the shacks. The victims had all been shot in their heads,” Potelwa said.
She said investigations into the killing continued, but that the motive for the shootings is yet to be determined.
Nosizwe Nonambana, 55, who lives a metre from the scene, said she was watching television with her husband, when she heard voices, and, shortly after, gunshots.
Nonambana, who has lived in the area for more than 40 years, said when they went to check what was happening, they saw three young women dead next to her shack.
“This has been a traumatic experience for me. After seeing the bodies, I did not sleep. I kept thinking about my own children, who might also be killed the same way because there is a lot of crime in this area,” she said.
Nontobeko Bless, the distraught mother of one of the victims, said someone in the area, who suspected that Unam was was shot, came to tell the family about the incident.
Bless said Unam was a sweet child, who loved singing and dancing.
“I do not even have hope that the police would help in this case,” she said.
Siyasanga's mother, Zukiswa Nkasela pleaded with the police to thoroughly investigate the motive behind the killing.
Nkasela said, before her daughter was killed, she recently finished her trial examination.
“She was a loving person with one child, who looked after me at all times,” said Nkasela.
Khayelitsha community policing forum (CPF) chairperson Fransina Lukas said condemning the killing was not enough. She said it was crucial to arrest and convict the criminals responsible for the killings.
Lukas said the lives of women and girls were at risk, every minute of every hour.
“Communities have been consistent in standing against gender-based violence (GBV) and femicide, but many of those incidents happened in homes and dark corners,” she said.
ANC Women’s League Dullah Omar Region spokesperson Zoleka Moon said the continuously high levels of GBV in the province needs urgent intervention from the government security cluster, led by the police.
Moon said the latest killing comes a week after a government employee Jacky Mpontsana was doused with petrol by her boyfriend and set alight. She later died.
Moon said the ANC Women’s League had noted an ugly and gruesome pattern of killing women developing in the Western Cape.
“That pattern is to kill women, then burn and dump their bodies. Two such incidents happened recently. On September 6, a similar incident occurred in Paarl, when a young woman, aged 22, was found murdered and dumped next to a railway line,” she said.
She said another woman was found, burned beyond recognition in Khayelitsha, C section. A week later, Nomandla Mthathi was stabbed to death in B Section.
“In a space of hardly two months, the region has lost seven young women to violence. There could be more killings that we aren’t aware of. These young lives were snatched away due to senseless violence,” Moon said.
This is where 3 girls were shot and killed between the TT Block informal settlement in Khayelitsha @TheCapeArgus @IOL https://t.co/PAs8hAXVz8 pic.twitter.com/8MQjbRVVNQ
— Sisonke Mlamla (@SISONKE_MD) September 28, 2021
Community Safety MEC Albert Fritz said he was shocked and angered by the killing of three women. Fritz said violence could not be tolerated, and called for urgent arrests and for all those responsible to face the full might of the law.
He said those who committed the horrible crimes must end up behind bars.
“We welcome the news that the police have instituted a 72-hour activation plan. This means that policing resources are being mobilised in order to capture suspects and ensure that they face the full might of the law,” Fritz said.
Fritz said they would be monitoring the situation very closely, and were ready to deploy additional Law Enforcement Advancement Plan (Leap) officers to the area.
Anyone with information that could assist in the investigation is urged to contact the Crime Stop number 08600 10111 or through the MySAPSApp.
sisonke.mlamla@inl.co.za