'Our battle to save the dying Senzo'

Terrified and in pain, a mortally wounded Senzo Meyiwa was rushed to hospital by his lover, Kelly Khumalo, as friends frantically tried to save him.

A day after the Bafana Bafana and Orlando Pirates captain and goalkeeper was gunned down in what seems to have been a house robbery at the Vosloorus, East Rand home of Khumalo's mother, details of his final moments have emerged.

"He tried to say something but I couldn't make out what it was. He looked scared but we had to keep calm and make sure we helped him," said Khumalo's neighbour, Mbuyiselwa Kula.

Meyiwa, accompanied by a friend, was at Khumalo's home after spending the early part of the day with his estranged wife, Mandisa Mkhize, at a friend's party.

Just after 8pm on Sunday Meyiwa was shot and wounded.

Responding to the sound of gunfire, Kula found Meyiwa sprawled on the dining room floor of Khumalo's home with single wound inflicted by a .38 Special revolver.

According to the police, gunmen had walked in and demanded cellphones and money.

Meyiwa was shot as his friend tried to disarm one of the gunmen.

After shooting Meyiwa, the gunmen grabbed a cellphone believed to be Khumalo's and fled, firing two more shots as they did so.

Neighbour Lesley Ngcatshe, said: " All we wanted to do was keep him alive. Everyone was crying ."

Ngcatshe's son, Khaya, who helped carry Meyiwa to his BMW X6, said: "His body was limp and powerless when we were carrying him. Minutes after the car left we received a call telling us he had died."

The police are hoping that forensic technicians can recover enough DNA from a beanie and a glove, ripped from one of the attackers during the struggle, to profile the killers. Acting Gauteng police commissioner Tebello Mosikili said: "With this, and partial descriptions of two of the killers, which we received from some witnesses, we are looking at the modus operandi and identity kits obtained from other similar crime scenes to try to identify them ," said Mosikili.

Though the police are regarding the murder as probably a botched house robbery they have not ruled out other possibilities.

"It is too early to say for sure. All evidence for now points to house robbery. At this point it doesn't look like a hit. The gun wasn't pointing specifically at Meyiwa," said Major-General Norman Taioe, head of Gauteng detectives and leader of the team investigating the murder.

He said Meyiwa was shot as he walked towards the door to leave the house.

"He was not protecting anyone. A friend was struggling with the gunman when he was shot." Earlier reports suggested Meyiwa was trying to shield Khumalo.

Although a bullet fragment was recovered, no spent cartridge cases were found, making the investigation difficult. National police commissioner Riah Phiyega has announced a R250000 reward and has appealed to the killers' parents to hand them over.

She said one of the suspects was tall and had dreadlocks, and the other was stocky. The men are believed to be in their 20s and 30s.

"Somewhere someone knows these people. We need your help to find them," she said.

Phiyega said the investigation was not being prioritised because of Meyiwa's fame.

"We have teams to investigate these types of crime. We offer rewards all the time. They are offered when information is limited. In this case it was night time, visibility was poor. We need the extra help to catch these people."