A distraught Nomthandazo Busakwe, who lost three sons in a mass shooting at an initiation school near Butterworth, is angry with God.
Two of the victims were initiates — 19-year-old Awonke and 20-year-old Anele — and the third, 25-year-old Sakhe, a traditional nurse.
A fourth son, 27-year-old Siyasanga, was wounded in the shooting and is fighting for his life in hospital.
The attack comes just two months after Busakwe’s oldest son, Masibulele, 29, was shot dead in what is believed to have been a hit.
“Where was my God when my three sons were mowed down by guns and perished in a split-second, one after another?” Busakwe, 51, asked. “Why is God turning his back on me? What sin have I committed to be exposed to such grief?”
Her sons were gunned down at about 1.15am on Monday by three armed men at the initiation hut in Mntla village in Ngqamakhwe in the Ngcwazi administrative area.
Awonke had just finished writing his matric exams at Mtebhele Senior Secondary School.
Busakwe and her family believe Masibulele’s killing in October and those of his three brothers this week were not a coincidence, “but planned hits by certain conspirators”.
Masibulele, a horse racing champion and stock owner, was shot dead on October 1 in nearby Sihlabeni village.
On Monday, before the attack, Siyasanga, who was wounded in the arm and jaw, was kidnapped from his flat at the family homestead by three gunmen and driven to the initiation lodge where he and his three brothers were all shot.
Busakwe, who is unemployed, and her mother, Bulelwa, 72, now have to find the money for three funerals.
“We just buried Masibulele on October 14 and now I must bury my three other sons on one day, while another is fighting for his life in hospital.
This is a concerted effort to wipe out all the males in the family. There is absolutely no doubt about that. Four months before Masibulele was killed in October, there was an attempt on his life
— Mncedisi Busakwe, family spokesperson
“We have no money to bury all three in one day. I don’t know where to start and where to get such a huge sum of money to buy three coffins and pay for the whole funeral as nobody at home is employed.
“We cannot even decide on the date of the funeral,” she said.
Family spokesperson Mncedisi Busakwe, 73, said someone was targeting the family.
“This is a concerted effort to wipe out all the males in the family. There is absolutely no doubt about that.
“Four months before Masibulele was killed in October, there was an attempt on his life in which he was shot and injured, and his van, which was parked in the yard, was torched.
“Last year his pregnant cow was shot dead. Though we don’t know the cause of the killings, we suspect there are issues of stock theft,” Mncedisi said.
“Masibulele was a livestock owner, and he was vocal against stock theft which is prevalent in this village. We suspect they might all have been killed for the family’s livestock.
“In September, Masibulele was one of the men who chased a bakkie full of stolen sheep in the village.”
No arrests have been made in either the Monday shootings or Masibulele’s murder.
The Monday incident came nearly three years after three initiates — Sakhele Nkwenkwezi, 20, Elihle Thathi, 20, and Solulele Bululu, 19 — were shot dead on January 1 2021 in Lujojweni village in the Gqogqorha administrative area in Tsomo, in what was believed to be a revenge attack.
Amathole district traditional initiation forum leaders Nkosi Mzikayise Kaulela said it was concerning the two tiny rural neighbouring towns of Ngqamakhwe and Tsomo were the first to see incidents of initiates being shot.
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