FIVE people were shot dead at a home in Fobane last Saturday night in what is suspected to have been a revenge attack linked to famo gangs involved in illegal gold mining in South Africa. Two of the victims are relatives while the other three worked for the family. The family’s four vehicles were also torched.
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The police say the assailants were looking for the family head, a 38-year-old man who was not at home during the attack.
The head chief of Fobane, Motsarapane Molapo, told thepost that the family head is an illegal miner in South Africa.
thepost has been told that the attack in Fobane could be linked to an earlier incident in Peka, where one man was shot dead and two seriously injured after being attacked by suspected members of a rival gang.
The three, who are said to be Terene gang members, were in Peka on Saturday to attend the funeral of a colleague who was to be buried on Sunday.
They were attacked moments after they had visited their Terene leader, Tšepiso ‘Mosotho’ Radebe, who lives in the same area.
Sources said the survivors were able to name their attackers to their colleagues who then launched a revenge attack on the family in Fobane.
The group suspected that the head of that family was linked to the group that had attacked their friends in Peka.
Police spokesman, Senior Superintendent Kabelo Halahala, said the police could not connect the two incidents.
He however described the incident as “shocking”.
“We are stunned by the manner in which the incident happened,” S/Supt Halahala said.
“We are struggling to figure out how this happened. This is really shocking.”
He said preliminary investigations have revealed that a group of men stormed a room where the herd-boy was sleeping.
They then allegedly ordered him to wake up the people in the main house. Once in the house, the men demanded to know where the head of the family was.
The answer was that he was in South Africa.
S/Supt Halahala said the assailants also demanded money from the wife but she said she did not have any.
He said they then pushed them out of the room and brutally killed them.
S/Supt Halahala said they found 19 different bullet shells of 5.56mm and 9mm pistols at the scene.
S/Supt Halahala said the assailants were travelling in a Toyota Fortuner and two 4x4s.
He however declined to give further details for fear of jeopardising the investigation.
The Chief of Fobane, Motsarapane Molapo, said the village is still in shock.
He said there had been another murder in the village earlier that Saturday
Majara Molupe
