Concerned residents of Mamelodi who spoke to Tshwane Talks this week regarding the recent cases of murder in the Far East of the township are of the opinion that the killings are a symptom of a gangster’s war that has broken out.
The traumatised residents opine that the war is perpetuated by members of three rival gangs who kill their rivals and also their own members.
All this because of the loot they have extorted from spaza shops that are owned by foreigners.
The Boko haram gang started in 2019 after Vusi Khekhe Mathibela the number 1 taxi boss was arrested for allegedly extortion and charges were dropped due to lack of evidence.
As years gone by the Boko Haram gang divided and another gang group emerge called the Bafarasei that was led by late James known as John Wick.
Later another gang group emerged, from SNS section and Far East called Bad Company gang.
Since then these three gangsters group been fighting each other and group members been killing each other for betrayal, power and to impress their bosses and making a point to the public.
It is widely believed that these gangster bandits take money from foreign-owned spaza shop owners by promising to protect them against looting, shop lifting and robbery by criminal elements in the township.
It is alleged some of the ward councilors in Mamelodi paid the so called protection fee to the angsters.
Before the gangsters group could emerge in Mamelodi, ward councillors used them to fight their battle in political meeting.
They would arrived in groups at the political meetings with guns and disrupt the meetings.
It is alleged many ward councilors has used them and paid them lots of money to threatened their opposition candidates to withdrawn from opposing the position of ward councilor.
This scenario is called “protection fee” and failure by a foreign spaza shop owner to pay up the said fee would result in the gangsters coming to his shop to rob him and sometimes beat him up.
The recent killings of men who were gunned down in the Far East of Mamelodi was allegedly triggered by the fact that one gangster collected money from a foreign-owned spaza shop owner secretly without informing his fellow bandits.
Townshippers allege that on Saturday 03 August 2024 a group of gangsters known as Bafarasei started quarreling at a “soul session” event after accusing one of their own of taking money from a foreign-owned spaza shop.
The “accused” gangster denied collecting the said money but the very next day, on Sunday 04 August 2024, he was gunned down on his way to a bottle store in Phase 1, this after having spent some time at a “social club” with the very same members of Bafarasei gang who had accused him of cheating them out of the money he had secretly collected from a spaza shop.
It is believed he had informed his fellow members that he was going to the said bottle store and the people who shot at him looked like they knew he would go pass the corner of the street where they had been for a while.
It is said the dead gangster was accompanied by a friend and both he and the friend were ambushed at the entrance of the bottle store by the said men who had all along been waiting at a corner adjacent to the bottle store.
killer apparently also went right into the bottle store to pump more guns into the bodies of the two men he had just shot to make sure they were indeed dead.
Upon leaving the scene of the crime, witnesses told Tshwane Talks that the murderer fired several shots skyward to scare off members of the community who were nearby.
It is believed that one if the two men who was gunned down at the bottle store was innocent as he was not a gangster and happened to be in the company of a criminal at the wrong place and time
Then on Monday the self-same alleged murderer of the two gangsters on Sunday was himself apparently tortured and burnt to death beyond recognition by members of his own gang Bafarasei and left at an open field.
Now on Wednesday the body of the man believed to have killed a fellow gangster on last Sunday was found at entrance 125 of Leeufontein settlement area with 8 bullet wounds.
Residents believe he was abducted somewhere else by a group of men before being dropped at Leeufontein and his car was also burnt down by his killers.
All the dead men belong to the Bafarasei gang, according to witnesses.
Two other rival criminal gangs in Mamelodi known as Boko Haram and Bad Company are believed to be the ones who have caused division and killings among the Bafarasei gang so as to weaken the Bafarasei gang and gain control of the drug dealing market in the Far East area of Mamelodi which is presently controlled by the Bad Company gang leader.
“This is a gangster war that has begun and will never end now,” said a worried member of the community.
The worried member of the community said by having gang members of Bafarasei kill one another, the Boko Haram bandits want to weaken Bafarasei, make their leader vulnerable and ultimately kill him to gain control of the drug-dealing market.
It is said by residents that Boko Haram has lost control of the drug-dealing market in greater Mamelodi township and the nearby Nellmapius RDP area, and that it now wants control of the Far East drug-dealing market.
It is alleged Boko Haram gave control of the drug-dealing market in greater Mamelodi and Nellmapius to the Bad Company gang out of fear of being killed.
Now that they (Boko Haram) no longer profit out of the drug-dealing, they see a new market in the Far East.
Meanwhile, police have opened three cases of murder regarding the aforesaid gang killings.
Regarding the murder on Wednesday police spokesperson Colonel Masondo said: “Police have opened a case of murder and are searching for suspects after a man was shot and killed in Mamelodi East on Wednesday 07 August 2024 and the motive for the killing cannot be confirmed at this stage.”
Masondo said Police were appealing to anyone who might have information that can help in the investigation or assist in the apprehension of the suspects to call the nearest police station or call Crime Stop on 08600 10111.
With reference to the murder cases that took place on Sunday, Masondo said two counts of murder have been opened and police were still searching for the suspects.