The community of Cato Crest in Durban is living in fear because of an increase in violent crime in the area. Residents say almost every day, a person is shot and killed in broad daylight.
A community member who wished to remain anonymous for fear of his safety, says he has moved out of his home because of the murders.
He says two men shot and killed his friend in his presence.
“I’m now in hiding because I’m scared and I’m worried I might be killed because that one other time me and my friend were attacked by people who shot my friend, and after that day, I decided to move out of that area fearing for my life. Even today, I can’t go back there; you can’t even walk alone during the day because we were shot at during the day in broad daylight.”
The ward councillor, Mzi Ngiba, says he also fears for his life and has decided to move out of the area.
Ngiba says for the past two years, there has been a spike in killings in the area.
“I believe it has been two years now that people are being killed in this area. This is now worse than what it was; it is getting out of hand. This weekend, we buried two people who were shot in broad daylight here at Cato Crest. A lot of people who have been killed are people with businesses in the area; so this might be a business turf war but we don’t know for sure,” says Ngiba.
Police Minister Bheki Cele is expected to present South Africa’s quarterly crime statistics on Friday.
