‘I have to bury my child for no reason’

Luyanda and Wandisile Kobe left their Nyanga home on the morning of Sunday May 5 to play soccer, but they never returned - by evening, 30-year-old Luyanda was dead and his 35-year-old brother was fighting for his life, says their distraught mother.

The brothers were at a house in Mazizini, Browns Farm, at 6.20pm, when gunmen opened fire, killing Luyanda and two other men and gravely injuring another five, one of whom died later in hospital.

Nosakhele Kobe is still struggling to come to terms with what happened on that fateful night.

Luyanda - a father of two boys aged 2 and 16 - and Wandisile, she said, had been returning home after playing soccer earlier in the day when they had visited a shebeen with a big-screen TV to watch a game between Stellenbosch FC and Mamelodi Sundowns FC.

“Just after they entered this place before they could even sit down, three men entered the place and shot them. My sons were very disciplined young men who loved football.

“I can attest any day that they were not criminals and were not even involved in crime. I believe that they were at the wrong place at the wrong time.

"I’m so hurt that my child died for sins he never committed. I’m truly devastated that I have to bury my child for no reason."

Ms Kobe claimed the shooting happened after three men tried to rob an e-hailing cab, but they failed and ran off, pursued by three armed men who caught up with at the shebeen.

At the shebeen, the gunmen hadn’t asked any questions; they had just shot every young man they could find, said Ms Kobe.

The way her son died, she said, made it look like he was involved in a crime, and that did not sit well with her.

A woman, whose name is known to Vukani but does not want to be identified as she fears for her safety, said the Kobe brothers were not involved in crime, but the men who ran into the shebeen were known criminals.

Ms Kobe said she did not know how she was going to bury her son.

"I have nothing, and the intention of the family is to bury him in the Eastern Cape, but I will gladly welcome any help that I could get.“

Provincial police spokesperson Colonel Andre Traut asked anyone with information to come forward.

“Detectives attached to the Provincial Serious and Violent Crimes Unit are pursuing a number of leads in a bid to apprehend those responsible for the murders and attempted murders and will appreciate community assistance to expedite the investigation. The motive for the incident is yet to be determined,” he said.