IN PICS | Father shields family under bed as bullets fly in Joburg informal settlement

This article contains graphic images.

When gunshots were fired at Jumpers Informal Settlement in Cleveland, east of Johannesburg, on Tuesday night, Nkosinathi Mathe did the only thing he could think of to protect his three-year-old daughter and girlfriend. He grabbed them and hid under the bed for cover as bullets flew outside their shack.

What sounded at first like distant fireworks soon became a nightmare that left 12 of his neighbours, including his 50-year-old uncle, dead.

“We were terrified; those sounds still ring in my head. I don’t know how I will heal from this. My daughter has been severely affected by this. She is traumatised because when you hold her or walk inside the house, she gets frightened and jumps up,” he said.

He described his uncle as a ‘people person’. “My uncle was living alone and unemployed; he helped people buy stock for their business, and they’d give him pocket money. That’s how he lived,” he said.

It is understood that a group of heavily armed suspects exited a minibus parked at a petrol station on Tuesday night before walking to the settlement and randomly opening fire.

Residents recounted scenes of panic and confusion, some saying they thought it was fireworks.

Another resident, Eric Langa, lost his sister, Matilda, who owned a tavern in the settlement.

He said he was sleeping in his room when he heard gunshots.

“I had just come back from work, freshened up and decided to go to bed when the shooting happened,” he said.

When the shooting was over, he heard people saying some people were shot at the tavern. “When I arrived at the tavern and saw that my sister and her helper had been shot, I was lost for words,” he told Sunday Times.

Originally from Mozambique, he said his 40-year-old sister moved to Cleveland in 2009 for work. She owned a tavern and rented out two buildings.

Langa said that when his sister relocated to Johannesburg, they found the area affordable and safe.

“I have been living here for a good 17 years and we are not renting. My sister built a home for herself and the helper,” he said.

Jumpers is a gated informal settlement with newly built shacks, with some under construction and yet to be occupied.

A security guard who works for Ilembe security company and is assigned to look after the shacks until the project is complete, Phumlani Hlongwane, said the area doesn’t have a security guard specifically assigned to look after the community.

“There are no security guards in this area, so it’s easy for people to come in and out as they please. At night, the gate is wide open and not locked. The gunmen knew there was nobody at the gate,” he said.

He said that when he reports to work, he only monitors those who interfere with the construction that is underway. “My job is to make sure that the equipment is not stolen by the community. Unfortunately, I have no control beyond that.”

Cleveland ward 118 councillor Neuren Pietersen said the shooting appeared to be a planned attack involving between 10 and 20 armed men who entered the informal settlement from different sides before meeting near an area used for illegal mining.

He said the gunmen first opened fire near a shack next to a mining shaft before moving to an area with several taverns, where they shot at people.

The councillor told the Sunday Times that he believes the violence is linked to illegal mining and groups fighting over gold in the area.

“This was the worst shooting incident the community had seen, although it was not the first. There had been about four serious shooting incidents in the settlement in the past year. The last shooting we had was last year, in October,” said Pietersen.

He said most of the people who live in the informal settlement are not involved in illegal mining, but they are the ones living with the violence and fear that come with it.

“Bringing mining activities into the formal economy could help reduce violence, create jobs and improve safety in the area. It needs to be regulated,” he said.