Double killing on eve of trial of Glebelands guns-for-hire hit squad

Two men were killed at the notorious Glebelands hostel in Umlazi, Durban, on Sunday night. 

Human rights and community activist Vanessa Burger said residents reported hearing gunshots from the old block at the hostel at about 8pm.

“It was later confirmed that two men have been killed. One man was a resident of Block 50, the other was from Block 51,” Burger said.

Police had not responded to queries about the deaths at the time of publishing.

The deaths come on the eve of the trial of eight men, including a police officer, in the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Monday. The accused allegedly operated as a hit squad of guns for hire. 

The men, Detective Sergeant Bhekukwazi Louis Mdweshu‚ 27; Ncomecile Matlala Ntshangase‚ 34; Khayelihle Mbuthuma‚ 32; Eugene Wonderboy Hlope‚ 45; Mbuyiselwa Mahliphiza Mkhize‚ 28; Vukani Mcobothi‚ 25‚ and Mondli Talente Mthethwa‚ 28, were arrested in a series of raids in December 2017. The eighth man, security guard Bongani Mbele, was arrested in May 2018.

They face charges of murder, attempted murder, extortion, racketeering and the possession of firearms and ammunition at the hostel between 2014 and 2016.

Burger said three men had been killed at the hostel since January, bringing the total number of hostel-related deaths to 117 since March 2014.

The Moerane Commission of Inquiry‚ established to probe political killings in the province‚ heard testimony that the death of former ANC Youth League general secretary Sindiso Magaqa was orchestrated from the hostel. Magaqa was shot in a drive-by shooting in Umzimkhulu in July 2017. He died later in hospital.

The hostel‚ administered by the eTthekwini municipality‚ is considered a hotbed of violence and crime. Comprising squalid and poorly maintained blocks‚ it is overcrowded and rundown.