Several Eastern Cape residents are calling on the owners of the Enyobeni Tavern to provide reasons behind teenagers being allowed to consume alcohol on their business premises.
At least 21 young people were killed at the tavern on Sunday morning – including teenagers between the ages of 13 and 17.
Investigations are underway into the possible cause of the tragedy. Ntombizonke Mgangala’s 17-year-old child is among those who passed away.
“I am asking myself how could a parent – because I want to believe that he/she is a parent like myself – in this cruel world of drugs and substance abuse, how could a parent or someone in the business allow young people or children, because these are children, how could she offer alcohol to children free of charge? What was the motive behind the action?
Mgangala says she was surprised to learn that her teenager had gone to the tavern.
“She was 17 years old and it came as a surprise that she was at the tavern. She had some money that she was saving and she said she was going to take the money and use it on the 25th of June. All of a sudden she said she was going with her friends and she was going to come back. She then disappeared. We then tried to look for her but we couldn’t get her. “
A discussion on the incident :
Meanwhile, a man who lost two of his teenagers in the tragedy says he went looking for them when he heard that chaos had erupted at the tavern on Sunday morning- but was refused entry by police.
He says he later discovered the bodies of his 17 and 18-year-olds at the mortuary. The father says he was not aware of the incident and only heard the news at around about 4 am on Sunday morning.
He decided to go there and when he arrived he was denied entry to the tavern because there were police. He eventually found out that his two children died.
