In the eerie silence following 30 minutes of relentless, deafening high-calibre gunfire, pensioner Ndabazakhe Mhloluvele stood frozen, in shock, before finally stepping out of his room.
First, he saw corpses piled on top of each other. Outside he found the body of his wife Thandeka on the veranda.
But nothing could prepare Mhloluvele for what he saw next. His sister’s two-month-old grandson, lying against his dead mother’s body, stuck in her blood, crying loudly and endlessly.
The baby’s mother, Samantha Sinqina, 28, had been shot dead as she lay in the bed with her baby.
“He was covered in blood and stuck to the mother,” Mhloluvele said. “The child could have choked on the mother’s blood. He was taken to hospital and is now in the hands of social workers. Two other children aged 11 and nine were also taken by social workers.”
The infant’s survival has been hailed as a miracle amid last weekend’s massacre in Ngobozana village, Lusikisiki, in the Eastern Cape, in which 18 people — all related — were killed.
The motive for the attack remains unclear. No arrests have been made. Police minister Senzo Mchunu visited the village this week and reportedly told the community they could sleep peacefully again because police had “the names and surnames” of the killers.
But Mhloluvele told the Sunday Times not even the miraculous survival of the baby could erase the haunting images of corpses piled on top of each other, a house filled with blood, and the sight of his wife riddled with bullets.
The 70-year-old was the first person to witness up close the full devastation of the attack.
“I am deeply hurt. It’s painful. My wife saved me. I had already woken up and was ready to go out when I heard my nephew shouting for his mother to open the door. She took the keys and unlocked it, and then I heard my wife say, ‘Do not come out.’ Those were her last words,” said Mhloluvele.
“Suddenly, I heard the sound of a high-calibre firearm, like thunder, mowing them down. It went on for about 30 minutes before everything went quiet. I could hear someone say, ‘Anyone who feels like it can follow us.’ I stood there for about 10 minutes in dead silence.”
He said he and other relatives had spent the night at the home of one of his sisters. They were preparing to attend a cleansing ceremony for another sister, who had been shot dead in a neighbouring village last year, along with her daughter, who had been six months pregnant.
Mhloluvele said his nephew, Thobile Sinqina, had been coerced into helping the assailants at gunpoint.
I can’t find words to describe the situation. It was awful and sad. You could see the pain on the faces of the community members. The stench of blood was unbearable
— Prince Chulumanco Sigcau
“I tried to call the police, but I struggled due to the poor signal. I managed to reach a relative in another village, and he assisted me in contacting the police. One officer got hold of me around 5am. I then directed the police and they arrived.”
As he prepares to bury his wife and other relatives, Mhloluvele has one wish. “We wish these homes could be demolished, and that those buried here be exhumed and reburied at the family home in Lamabasi,” he said.
A memorial service, organised by the Eastern Cape government, will be held at Lusikisiki College of Education today. Mchunu and national police commissioner Gen Fannie Masemola are expected to attend.
National police spokesperson Brig Athlenda Mathe said: “Police are not at liberty to provide a blow-by-blow update on progress in this case. Investigations are at a sensitive stage and we request space to conduct a thorough investigation that will ensure we present a watertight case that will be able to stand in court. Gen Fannie Masemola will provide an update at the right time.”
Traditional AmaPondo leader Prince Chulumanco Sigcau said there had been other shootings in the area and that gun violence was rife.
“I can’t find words to describe the situation. It was awful and sad. You could see the pain on the faces of the community members. The stench of blood was unbearable,” said Sigcau.
“The minister of police promised to [improve] things in Lusikisiki. He said old dockets will be revisited. I am suggesting that the police specialised units should be expanded. We should not wait for specialised units from Mthatha and East London. These units should be based here.
“I have been told that the firearms used were high-calibre weapons. I have been asking myself where such a firearm would have come from because we don’t even have army bases around here. Police need to investigate the source of these firearms.”
Khuselwa Rantjie, spokesperson for Eastern Cape premier Oscar Mabuyane, said the social development department had been deployed to conduct a “holistic assessment of the families” with “psychosocial support provided to survivors”.
Referring to the baby, she said “processes are under way to ensure the placement of the infant in the childcare [service] while tracing of relatives continues. Two other survivors have been taken to a place of safety for protection.”
Adèle Kirsten, the director of Gun Free South Africa, said violence was a complex phenomenon and required a multipronged approach, “both in preventing and reducing it and in addressing the enormous negative impacts it has on all aspects of our society”.
“This includes the physical and emotional trauma it exacts on both direct and indirect victims,” she said. There were also economic impacts such as the burden firearm violence placed on the health system, “diverting funds away from other key priorities such as education”.
“What we know from evidence across the world is that putting in place primary prevention measures such as focusing on early childhood development, helps in interrupting the cycle of violence, and this is showing some positive results,” Kirsten said.
She said South African society seemed to accept violence as “the norm” in settling conflicts, family disputes and other arguments.
“In some instances, the use of violence is seen as legitimate. The upstream approach would want to interrupt that mindset, offering alternatives to solving differences and conflict, and therefore early intervention is critical to start that happening.”
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