The recent spate of killings in Mamelodi, east of Preoria, which have left nine people dead have been linked to gang warfare between the notorious Boko Haram gang and its breakaway outfit.
This is according to police, who have assigned a team of several specialised units to investigate the killings that have rocked the townships.
“The police are aware of the recent murders that have been committed allegedly by a breakaway group from the so called Boko Haram, calling themselves Bafarasai,” said police spokesperson Brig Brenda Muridili.
Muridili said no arrests had been made so far as police appeal to the people of Mamelodi to come forward with any information that could solve the murders.
In the latest incident at Mams Mall, two men were shot and killed when they were ambushed while sitting in a red car which was sprayed with bullets. Graphic pictures of the incident have gone viral in Mamelodi, with locals sharing them via WhatsApp.
Bodies have been piling up since August 29, when two men believed to be members of Boko Haram were shot dead at Santorini night club in the township. Most victims were shot in the head.
In September alone there were two incidents on Monday the 13th and Saturday the 25th, where a man was shot dead in a drive-by shooting and two others were killed at Mamelodi Heights hostel.
Muridili said on October 10, four armed suspects entered a house at section G in Mamelodi, looking for Solomon Ntuli, 38, who is linked with Boko Haram.
“It is reported that at about 4.30pm, Ntuli was visiting his girlfriend when he was confronted by the suspects. The girlfriend’s mother was shot on the leg and arm while Ntuli was shot through the door. He died on the scene,” Muridili said.
She said the “suspects fled the scene in a silver-grey Toyota Corolla to the Heights Hostel, where they reportedly shot several times in the direction of the hostel”.
The name Boko Haram strikes fear in the hearts of many residents of Mamelodi, with many insisting that their names be withheld while others flatly refused to talk about the incidents despite having been at some of the scenes.
A resident with knowledge of the group told Sowetan that eight members of the group have now been killed while three of the main leaders of Boko Haram were currently in hiding.
The local said from the nine killings only one member known as Bruno belonged to the Bafarasai while eight others were members of Boko Haram, who the resident claimed to know very well.
The resident said Ntuli was killed a day after attending the funeral of another Boko Haram member known as Brock, who was shot and killed on Sunday October 2.
“This is a war among rival gangs who are fighting to control projects in Mamelodi, they are just taking each other out,” the resident said.
Boko Haram, a vigilante group with about a dozen members, targeted businessmen and foreign shop owners for extortion in Mamelodi.
The group gained notoriety about two years ago as it wreaked havoc by hijacking social housing flats at a Mamelodi West hostel and through extorting money they call “protection fees” mainly from foreigner tuckshop owners.
A Facebook account named John Wick Mamelodi recently took responsibility for the killings and vowed to continue the spree.
“I will be scouting at the village tonite (sic) be warned I want to finish the bokoharam...” stated one of the recent posts by John Wick Mamelodi.
In another post, the user posted: “I am still going to take them down one (by) one they touched the wrong territory.”
The account has since been deleted from the social network. Another resident who also spoke on condition of anonymity said they were now scared to even go shopping in the township.
“We are not surprised when we hear that there’s been another shooting in the township because we now expect it,” he said.
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