Brutal group murder shocks

"Whatever he did, he did not deserve that."

These were the words of grief-stricken Sanuse Gcora, whose brother-in-law Lizo Barnes was one of six men killed in Kraaifontein, Cape Town.

The men were found tied up and stabbed, their heads smashed with concrete bricks.

"I saw him and it was very bad. I couldn't identify him. The only thing I could identify was a tattoo on his neck of three stars," said Gcora.

"He [Barnes] went missing on Tuesday. Yesterday, [Wednesday] we went looking for him. I asked all his friends and they didn't know where he was. The last time they saw him was on Tuesday.

"I went to the police station. They told me they had someone who was wearing what he wore and they thought it was him."

Gcora's search ended at the Tygerberg hospital mortuary.

"Whatever he did, he didn't deserve that. When I grew up I was also naughty. When we did wrong we were beaten up, but not like that."

Though police have refused to speculate on a possible motive for the murders, residents say the men could have been victims of a vigilante attack.

Gcora said all of the dead men had been friends. Barnes, who was unemployed, had celebrated his 21st birthday on December 1.

Police said four of the six men, aged between 18 and 30, had been identified, but declined to name them. They expected the two others to be identified soon.

The men were from the impoverished areas of Phase 7 and Phase 9 between Wallacedene and Bloekombos.

A special task team has been set up to investigate their deaths.

Provincial commissioner Arno Lamoer said Western Cape police management was "shocked" by the murders.

He dismissed theories of vigilantism and "bundu court" (mob justice).

"Allow us to investigate. We don't want to speculate," he said.

"A reward of R250000 has been offered for information leading to successful prosecution of whoever was responsible . We will work until we finalise this."

Hugo van der Merwe from the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation said the killings were unlike any other he had seen.

"This incident of so many people being killed in a clearly planned and organised fashion is unheard of. I would almost be hesitant to classify it as part of the phenomenon of vigilante violence."

Vigilantism showed that people in a community lacked confidence in policing, he said.

"It's a boiling over of frustration."

Additional reporting by Aphiwe Deklerk