It is just after midnight on Sunday July 10.
Five men casually walk down a dark street in Nomzamo informal settlement in Orlando East, Soweto, visibly carrying firearms.
Four are carrying pistols and one is holding down an AK47 assault rifle.
Oblivious to the CCTV camera capturing the moment, their faces can be clearly identified and in seconds, they disappear down the dark street as the area is experiencing power cuts due to cable theft.
Minutes later, 14 people would be shot dead at Mdlalose’s Tavern, a brutal incident that shocked the nation.
Nine others were injured with two losing the fight for their lives in hospital days later.
The CCTV footage caught minutes before the shooting, which Sowetan has exclusively seen, will serve as critical evidence against the men.
The minibus taxi the gunmen apparently arrived in cannot be seen in the footage which is one of two CCTV clips investigators have as part of their evidence.
Sowetan understands that arrests are imminent.
According to sources close to the matter, the suspects are Lesotho nationals.
A day after the shooting, police minister Bheki Cele said they had identified five suspects.
Gauteng police commissioner Lt-Gen Elias Mawela said the suspects had fled Gauteng but some of the wanted men are in Johannesburg, sources said.
Plans to apprehend some of the men were intensified this week.
More than 130 AK-47 cartridges were found at the crime scene.
Prior to the shooting at the tavern, the same group allegedly shot and killed Lerotha Hlabanyane in neighbouring Klipspruit.
Hlabanyane was part of the Lesotho gang, his mother Mariam told Sowetan on Thursday.
Days before he was gunned down outside his rented home he had told his family and friends that he left the gang.
Mariam Hlabanyane said her 44-year-old son’s decision to leave the Lesotho gang was not well received by his peers.
“My son assured me and his wife that he has changed his ways. Most of his friends from Lesotho did not want him to leave the gang,” said the mother.
No arrest has been made in connection with Hlabanyane’s murder.
The majority of those killed at Mdlalose's Tavern were from Umzimkhulu in KwaZulu-Natal.
Thabo Koepe, 34, was the only Lesotho national who was killed during the massacre.
Reliable sources said Koepe was part of a Lesotho gang and he was the person targeted by those that fired the shots at Mdlalose’s Tavern.
The other victims are: Daliwonga Mluma, 54; Simthembile Gamede, 19; Sithembiso Mjoli, 34; Luyanda Mjoli, 19; Philani Mngonyama, 22; Siphethuxolo Chiliza, 26; Njabulo Ndlangisa, 29; Mlondi Ndlangisa, 27; Thamsanqa Malunga, 24; Nkosiyezwe Malunga, 27; Sifiso Sosiba, 44; Siboniso Ngubane, 22; Menzi Nzimande, 26; and Nhlonipho Mbanjwa, 31.
newsdesk@sowetan.co.za
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