'They shot them and left': Community safety MEC describes gruesome scene of bodies strewn across tavern floor

The lifeless bodies of patrons lay strewn across the floor when community safety MEC Faith Mazibuko arrived at Mdlalose’s tavern on Sunday morning where 15 people were brutally killed.

“When I got there the forensic pathologists had not yet removed the rest of the bodies. They were still strewn on the floor and you could see that others were trying to run away and ended up pushing one another causing a stampede.”

A total of 15 people died in the early hours of Sunday morning when gun-wielding men opened fire on them while they were relaxing. All of the dead and injured were over 18 and the tavern was operating within legal operating hours.

Mazibuko said some patrons were injured as they tried to get away and fell on top of one another.

“Others were still strewn on the road and obviously, because the pathologists are busy, only family members were allowed in to identify their loved ones. Most of them were still not yet covered and you could see their wounds.”

Some were only identifiable by official documents or banking cards on their person due to the state of their injuries.

“Those that they rushed to the hospital were identified as well. One has been discharged and she was not injured. It’s just that she collapsed due to shock and the ambulance took her to the hospital.

“The scene was very bad and by the time I left it was only two bodies that were left. They have started combing the scene and they have been able to establish that AK47’s were used to shoot those people. May their souls rest in peace.”

Mazibuko said she woke up to the news that at about midnight a quantum (taxi) had pulled up at Mdlalose’s tavern in Nomzamo informal settlement in Orlando East and gunmen had opened fire on patrons.

“We had to summon all the law enforcement agencies to go and attend the scene. When the police arrived at the scene they discovered about 11 people that had been shot dead and some you could see had been trying to be helped by their friends and passed out.”

Mazibuko said more bodies were discovered around the corner when the police were combing the scene. “Ten people were still alive but four of them were very critical and the other one died on the way to the hospital. The death toll is now standing at 15 because others also succumbed to their injuries.

“By the time the forensics left, there were still two bodies that had not yet been collected inside the shebeen.”

Mazibuko said witnesses alleged the gunmen jumped out of the vehicle and shot at them. “The situation is bad. The people were just sitting in a tavern, which is legal and was operating within the legal operating hours.”

Nomzamo informal settlement is not one of the areas that is considered to be a contributor to the high crime numbers in Gauteng, she said.

“Nothing was taken from the shebeen and the patrons. They shot them and left,” she said, adding that she was concerned about the proliferation of firearms in communities.

“Each and every community will tell you in Gauteng that there is a lot of firing of firearms in Gauteng at night. Worse, some of us stay next to hostels, you would think it’s a war zone. You wonder what is happening.”

Mazibuko revealed there was another shooting in Katlehong’s Mputlane Inn Tavern where two people were killed. “They actually held those patrons hostage and made them lie down and shot them. Four of them were shot and two have succumbed to their injuries.”

TimesLIVE also reported that four people died in a mass shooting in a tavern in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, on Saturday night.

The shootings take place two weeks after the eNyobeni tragedy where 21 underage children died in Scenery Park, East London.

Mazibuko called for calm in Gauteng saying, “communities must not take the law into their own hands. Let’s work with the police and help to identify who these people are. The police can’t be everywhere guarding shebeens.”

She urged tavern owners to beef up security at their establishments and ensure patrons and their vehicles are safe.

ANC Gauteng chairperson Panyaza Lesufi said this level of lawlessness will not be tolerated.

“Police must leave no stone unturned to track these perpetrators and we must know the reasons why these people behave in this barbaric fashion.”

Lesufi, together with Gauteng premier David Makhura, will be visiting some of the people who are still in hospital to gather more information about the incident.

TimesLIVE

Support independent journalism by subscribing to the Sunday Times. Just R20 for the first month.