ISSUE 250 - FREE
22
NOVEMBER 2019
COMMUNITY NEWS. ORIGINAL - ACCURATE - FIRST
017 631 1903 / 017 631 1845 • admin@thebulletin.co.za • 1 Kiewiet Street, Secunda (Lake Umuzi)
Storm clouds gathering on Sunday, 17 November on the Highveld. Photo: Encee van Huyssteen
Blackout weekend for eMbalenhle: a reason for three murders?
T
hursday evening, 14 November, at around 18h30 some parts of eMbalenhle were left with no power as a sub-station’s breakers blew out in extension 5. This was according to a statement issued by Govan Mbeki Municipality on their Facebook page later that night. This affected almost 70% of eMbalenhle from Thursday until Sunday afternoon when the power came back on in the affected areas. It was too late as three people were brutally murdered, allegedly, in the darkness. The comments and the responses from the community blamed the blown-out beakers as the reason why three people were allegedly killed in three separate incidents. Friday evening, in extension 4, a man parked his vehicle on the side of the road, his car doors locked automatically and he had forgotten his keys and cell phone inside his car. After a few minutes of him battling to open the car, he decided to break a window hoping that he would fix it later. Upon breaking the window, community members, who watched from afar, thought that he was stealing the car and started beating
him. He was severely injured when someone noticed the large group of people standing next to the car. The man came closer to ask what had happened. He was told that the man who was beaten, broke the window of the car. A passer-by knew him and informed the group that he was the owner of the car. When they tried to rush him to hospital it was too late and he succumbed to his injuries. Another incident that happened on Saturday night in extension 7, known as Time Houses, saw someone noticing a man in his early 20s lying in a pool of blood. He called the neighbours for assistance; an ambulance and the police were summoned to the horrific scene. The man suffered severe injuries and allegedly died due to a loss of blood. A neighbour spoke to The Bulletin and said that she heard a man crying loudly for help and she didn’t take notice as she thought it was just some young guys from one of the nearby taverns known to the community. Shortly after, a call came through from a shop in extension 15. They said that they were looking for the police as there were a group of people beating a man on the street. All role players rushed to the scene and upon arrival
a man was found lying in the road with wounds all over his body. No one could tell what happened to him or how he was killed. All these incidents happened at different places that were allegedly affected by the electricity cuts over the weekend and all fingers pointed to the local municipality and its leadership. The opinion of the people is that GMM is incompetent and can’t do the work. A big debate regarding GMM leadership caught everyone’s attention on social media platforms on Friday morning. Some people said that they have no one to blame because they voted for them to lead them into darkness and that they will vote for them again to lead them to more potholes, sewerage problems and water shortages in the 2021 elections. There are mixed emotions over the past weekend that will be remembered as a dark weekend by the community of eMbalenhle. The safety and humanity amongst the community members are of great concern to everyone especially after this weekend’s ruthless killings of the young people and the alleged lack of major steps being taken by stakeholders. The community needs to take a firm stand against the
senseless killings in eMbalenhle. The police alone cannot fight crime. All stakeholders have to join hands in fighting crime. 2019 was filled with crime in eMbalenhle. Community members have said that they hope 2020 will bring more blessings. #Stopkilling our people #Itendsnow - Sandile Mkhwanazi