/ 25 April 1999

MOB MURDER SUSPECTED THIEVES

ONE man died and another is in a coma after a Cape Town mob hanged and beat them for allegedly stealing a television set, South African police said on Friday. Fifteen men allegedly hanged Luvuyo Gaga (20) and Zamikhaya Tshona (21) from the roof of a shack in Cape Town’s Black City settlement, police spokesman Vuyisile Jantjies said. They apparently beat the two through the night with batons, sticks, empty beer bottles and a car battery, Jantjies said. The men were also shot in the legs and burnt and cut on their genitals, he said. By morning, Gaga was dead. Tshona was hospitalised and is in a coma. Gaga’s father insisted his son is innocent and gave police a receipt for the purchase of the disputed television set. Four men have been arrested.