The Pakistani community in Mitchells Plain have laid bare their concerns about the murders of four of their countrymen.
|||Cape Town - Emotions ran high in Mitchells Plain as members of the Pakistani community laid bare their concerns about the murders of four of their countrymen to Community Safety MEC Dan Plato on Thursday.
Plato visited the house in Rocklandson Thursday where a gun attack on six men on Tuesday night left four dead and two others in hospital.
Gunmen entered the house in Uranus Street and opened fire on Muhammad Shafique, 42, Adnan Haider, 23, Ghulam Baqar, 23, and Shazad Ahmad, 39. They died on Wednesday morning.
Police arrested a 28-year-old man in connection with the shooting, and a firearm and a stolen safe were recovered.
The men were relatives, friends and employees of businessmen Abid Hussain, who has lived in Mitchells Plain for 16 years. Hussain is abroad.
His company, Eastern Distributors, distributes bread - and recently landed a lucrative contract.
Recalling the incident, Hussain’s wife, Rhukshana Hussain, and a 12-year-old girl who were in the house at the time of the shooting, wept uncontrollably.
The girl was comforted by Plato, who was outraged to hear that the girl had not yet been given trauma counselling.
It was not the first attack on the house. There had been another incident where a van was set alight outside the house, Plato was told. Plato offered sympathy to the family and the community as a whole.
The murders have sparked an emotional reaction from Pakistanis across the city, many of whom gathered at the house on Thursday.
Neighbour Noegh Soeker asked Plato what the community could do to protect themselves.
He told Plato that a few months ago residents launched an informal neighbourhood watch, armed with sticks and doing routine patrols.
“And for two months there was peace, until this happened,” Soeker said. The patrols had stopped after the police told the group they were “vigilantes”.
Plato promised to follow up the matter with police.
natasha.prince@inl.co.za
Cape Argus