Killings: Dr George Koboka was murdered at his Soweto consulting rooms in March, days after patients in his surgery were robbed. Photo: Papi Morake/Gallo Images
Soweto doctors under siege from armed robbers that killed one of their colleagues recently are hastily upgrading security and installing CCTV cameras at their practices in fear of more attacks.
The murder of Dr George “Moops” Koboka on 26 March resulted in 120 doctors threatening to shut down their practices in the township, forcing an urgent meeting with Gauteng provincial South African Police Service (SAPS) commissioner Lieutenant General Elias Mawela.
Killings: Dr George Koboka was murdered at his Soweto consulting rooms in March, days after patients in his surgery were robbed. Photo: Papi Morake/Gallo Images
Brenda Sibeko, the spokesperson for the Soweto Independent Practitioners Association (Soipa), said the meeting came after Soipa, which represents more than 120 doctors, threatened to close down their practices in reaction to a spate of robberies.
“Unfortunately, this is the language that our government understands better. But after our meeting, Commissioner Mawela asked that we give the police another chance so we can work together in saving lives of doctors and patients who feel unsafe at their surgeries [medical practices],” said Sibeko.
She said Soipa had agreed to form a task team with the police to intensify security at all medical practices in Soweto. A security company will be contracted to patrol medical practices in the township to improve safety.
Gauteng provincial police spokesperson Colonel Dimakatso Sello confirmed the meeting between the police top brass and the medics.
“A follow-up meeting was indeed held between the SAPS Gauteng management and the doctors’ forum to elaborate on collaborative ways and measures to be put in place in fighting crime, specifically attacks on medical surgeries,” she said.
Sello added that “both parties agreed to work together and the police will be doing their part of policing and investigating”. But doctors still live in fear and blame the police for failing to investigate cases.
“The robberies and attacks started from 2017. They are worse now because these criminals are prepared to kill,” said Dr Lulamile Nkuna, who has operated in Meadowlands for 15 years. “When a robber has a gun, you don’t know what they think. They can kill you on the spot. We chose to cooperate when they made off with cell phones, laptops and more valuables in the surgery.”
Nkuna, who was robbed several times between 2017 and 2021, said he had beefed up security at his practice and doesn’t allow more than one patient at a time in the consulting room.
“Our police are failing us. Either dockets get lost or our cases end up nowhere. It’s [now] up to us to protect ourselves,” said Nkuna, adding that some robbers collude with women who pose as patients. During consultation, the woman “patient” asks the doctor to allow her boyfriend into the consulting room. Once in, the man then robs the doctor.
Killings: Dr George Koboka was murdered at his Soweto consulting rooms in March, days after patients in his surgery were robbed. Photo: Papi Morake/Gallo Images
Last November, a man walked into Dr Desmond Mohapi’s consulting room in Orlando West to ask if he could see a dentist. After being advised there wasn’t one on the premises, he left — but returned minutes later with three other men armed with a gun and a knife.
Two of the men forced the receptionist, Irene Molota, into the consulting room where they demanded she hand them her employer’s firearm. Mohapi had dashed out to get equipment for his practice when the robbers struck that morning.
The other two robbers stood at the door as lookouts while the pair holding Molota hostage ransacked the place. The robbers hastily threw their loot, which included syringes and other medication, on a white sheet they had laid out on a bed. They also stole a stethoscope, an ENT (ear, nose and throat) tester set, a plasma television set as well as Molota’s cell phone, laptop, iPad and wallet with cash and bank cards.
They then ordered Molota to hide under the table until they left.
This was the third incident of robbery at Mohapi’s practice in Orlando West since he started working there five years ago.
Mohapi said that in mid-2019 thugs forced their way through the roof at night and stole a printer, photocopier, plasma screen TV, pills, laptop and medical equipment.
He said he has lost trust in the police and doubts they will ever arrest the robbers.
The investigating officer never updated him about all the cases he opened. Mohapi suspects that the stolen medical equipment is later sold to colleagues in the medical fraternity.
After Koboka’s killing in March his colleague, Dr Tendani Mulaudzi, who is also based in Diepkloof, increased security and installed CCTV cameras. At the funeral Mulaudzi told mourners he remembered his high school classmate as a person who liked to crack jokes.
Dr Mfundo Kuhlase is still traumatised by a robbery at his practice in Diepkloof Extension, when five armed men stormed the practice and took off with cellphones and laptops. He said police were handed CCTV footage of the robbery but the robbers were never arrested.
Gauteng’s head of community safety, Faith Mazibuko, told a public meeting at Diepkloof Hall on 15 May that the police face the problem of corruption and firearms-related crimes. She asked if station commanders from Orlando and Diepkloof police stations set targets for their branch detectives to crack cases.
“Other cases are withdrawn. Other cases are closed as undetected. You must know those cases were never investigated,” said Mazibuko.
Doctors said that it seemed the robbers fled to hostels around the township after committing the crimes. Mazibuko said some criminals committed crimes in the townships and then sought refuge at the hostels.“A person comes and sleeps at the hostel without being asked where they are from. Hitmen are found at hostels,” said Mazibuko. — Mukurukuru Media
Suspect remanded in custody
A suspect arrested in connection with the murder of popular Soweto doctor George “Moops” Koboka, 56, was remanded in custody during a bail application in the Orlando magistrates’ court on Monday.
Nkosikhona Morris Gumbi, 32, from Eldorado Park, south of Johannesburg, has unsuccessfully attempted to get bail. On Monday, magistrate Mohammed Jooma postponed the bail application hearing to 30 June for further investigations.
The murder case was transferred from Diepkloof police station to the provincial Serious and Violent Crime Unit.
Koboka was shot in the cheek and head while consulting patients on 25 March. Police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Mavela Masondo said three people — aged 23, 28 and 33 — had been arrested for the murder, while one was still at large.
A police source said two of the three suspects were released before they could appear in the Orlando magistrate’s court on 28 March.
On 16 May, Gumbi’s lawyer, Adam Mafeane, was informed by the prosecutor that his client would be charged with a schedule 6 offence, meaning the crime was premeditated and the state would oppose bail.
Armed robbers had attacked Koboka’s practice just days before his murder. In the earlier attack, a group of men stormed the practice and robbed patients of their cellphones, cash and other belongings. No one was injured. Eight days later, Koboka was killed.
It has emerged that after the earlier robbery, Koboka drove to the Diepkloof hostel as he suspected the robbers could have fled there in a getaway minibus taxi.
His fiancée, Nhlamulo Mazibuko, said police went to the scene after Koboka had spent close to 30 minutes at its entrance after spotting the getaway car.
A suspect who was driving the minibus taxi was arrested. But, according to a police source, the suspect was never charged, and the taxi he was driving was not taken in for fingerprints or DNA testing.
Tired of being frequently robbed at gunpoint, Koboka installed CCTV cameras at the practice just four days before he was killed. CCTV footage of the 25 March tragedy shows a group of men armed with guns entering the practice and walking past patients sitting on chairs. They then stormed into Koboka’s consulting room. Patients are seen running for cover apparently after shots were fired. The panic-stricken patients are then seen running out of the reception area.
Three suspects, including Gumbi, were later arrested after a tip-off, but two were subsequently released.
Koboka had previously fought back against attacks.
According to his brother Thami Koboka, one evening just after 6pm, two men walked into his consulting room and robbed him of cash. The doctor then chased the armed thugs in his car, crashing into their getaway car, one of whose mirrors fell off. The suspects managed to escape but Koboka, with the mirror as evidence, proceeded to Diepkloof police station to open a case of business robbery, his brother said.
The case does not appear in the system at Diepkloof police station.
Last year Koboka chased after a suspect who was later arrested before being found not guilty for lack of evidence.
In his affidavit Gumbi admitted that he drove the minibus taxi to Koboka’s practice on the day he was killed.
He said he received a phone call from unknown men to transport them from the Johannesburg central business district to Diepkloof after one of them claimed he was sick. When they arrived at Koboka’s practice said he waited outside while the four men went inside. A few minutes later, he heard two gunshots and then saw his passengers running towards his vehicle and telling him to drive off. He said he didn’t know what had happened, and later dropped the men off at a taxi rank.In his affidavit, the investigating officer, Sergeant Lerato Mpai, said Gumbi should not be granted bail because he would intimidate witnesses and evade trial as he was aware of the seriousness of the crime. In his previous appearance the case was postponed so that Mpai could look into an outstanding case against Gumbi of possessing an unlicensed firearm and ammunition. — Mukurukuru Media
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