Gangsterism and clan rivalry are only two of the factors contributing to the wave of crime which has struck a small area in the Eastern Cape, writes Craig Bishop
WHEN 45-year-old truck driver Koko Syoko set off from Molteno in the north of the Eastern Cape last week, he had little idea of the precautions he needed to take when travelling through Tsolo, a small area in the former Transkei. Unwisely choosing to sleep under his vehicle, he and his passenger were shot and robbed.
They survived. They were the lucky ones. More than 20 people have been shot “execution-style” in the area in the past month.
The region, 40km south of Umtata, is no bigger than greater Johannesburg, with villages dotting the rolling hills in a picturesque landscape which normally would be the stuff of postcards. No accurate population figures are available – apparently, Census 96 came unstuck in Tsolo.
But what is known about the people is that they frequently kill each other. More than 500 people, many of them women and children, have been killed in the past three years – victims of a lethal cocktail of clan rivalry dating back 70 years, stock theft and modern-day gangsterism.
Two weeks ago, four hitmen burst into a Qumbu shack, killing four children and two women in a hail of AK-47 gunfire. Days later a 77-year-old grandfather was shot, for no apparent reason.
Earlier this week, a 38-year-old mother of four was shot dead outside her Qumbu home. The bullet went through her, and into the forehead of Nosibabalo Mhlekuwa, the four-year daughter strapped to her back. The girl somehow survived.
Police and army in the area, who usually find no witnesses willing to talk, believe the latest escalation in violence has to do with a shadowy organisation known as umfelandawonye (We die together).
Started 12 months ago to fight rampant stock-theft in the region, umfelandawonye has since degenerated into straight extortion and murder. Anyone who doesn’t join (and pay) is judged a stock thief, and a fair target.
The organisation’s military wing, inkqayi (shaved heads), is thought to be responsible for the latest killings.
Senior superintendent Wayne Hackert, in charge of security force operations in the area, says each killing sparks a spate of revenge killings, and these often involve the wholesale destruction of villages.
Officials believe, however, that police are moving in on the ringleader of umfelandawonye, which is based in Gauteng.
Police believe much of the violence is being initiated by workers who migrate from the area to regions such as Gauteng. Recently, the union rivalry which has claimed several lives around platinum mines in the Northern Province and North-West province swept into the Transkei.
Hackert says: “The biggest problem is migrant labour. All the men go to Gauteng for work, and the violence is planned there.”
The terrain militates against effective action, he says. “Villages are high up in the hills so it is literally an uphill battle for armoured vehicles. The terrain is too wide to dominate by a show of force, so we mainly use helicopters.” These include an Oryx helicopter from the South African National Defence Force.
But, at best, such response can only keep a lid on the killings. Halting the slaughter hinges on the long-standing rival communities talking to each other.
The Eastern Cape has now sent MPLs like Nat Serache, Reverend Harris Majeke and Dr Malizo Mpehle to the area to seek peace talks. Peace-process forums have been set up to bring community representatives together.
The provincial government is also hoping for help to create jobs in the region. “As the saying goes, the devil makes work for idle hands,” says provincial safety and security permanent secretary Dumisani Mafu.
In the meantime, the family of four-year-old Nosibabalo Mhlekuwa faces the task of explaining to the girl why her mother had to die. It’s unlikely that they, or anyone else in the region, can tell her.