The sound of crying family members echoed around the packed Umzimkhulu hall during the memorial service for the 13 people from KwaZulu-Natal who were killed in a shooting at a tavern in Soweto, Johannesburg, two weeks ago. 

All 13 were from Umzimkhulu on the south coast. 

They were among 16 people who lost their lives when gunmen opened fire at the Mdlalose tavern in Nomzamo, Orlando East. Seven other people were wounded in the ordeal. 

Speaking to TimesLIVE at the memorial service and candle lighting ceremony at the Umzimkhulu TVET hall on Wednesday, families said the victims had left the rural town to seek a better life for their families in Gauteng.

Zibuse Chiliza said he thought his prayers had been finally answered when his only son, Siphathuxolo, aged 26, told him he had finally found a job in Gauteng during his last visit home last month. 

With his wife having passed away over 20 years ago and all of his daughters married, Siphathuxolo was the elderly man's last hope.

“When he went back to Johannesburg, he promised he would be home by month end [of July]. Only if I knew he would come back in a coffin,” Chiliza said.

“I’m heartbroken because it was his first job and I really thought he would change the situation at home but I was [fooling myself]. I just have to bury my son and let him rest, there is nothing I can do now,” he added. 

Chumiswa Dlamini said her cousin Sibongiseni Jokazi, 35, was the second member of her family to die in the same tavern, after his brother Marks Jokazi died there in 2017. 

“I don’t understand the dark cloud that is hitting our family because it was also on a Sunday in 2017 when [Sibongiseni's] little brother Marks was stabbed to death in the same tavern,” she said.

“We are very hurt as a family. We have lost so much in Nomzamo Park (Soweto) so I hate that place so much. My other cousin still lives there and I’m sure it will be very difficult for him to pass by that place from now, especially since you have to pass right next to it wherever you are going.”

Siphumelele Mngonyama said his younger brother Philani had turned 22 on July 7. Four days later, he died from gunshot wounds he sustained at the tavern. .

Mngonyama said it was hard to see their bodies lying there because he knew almost all the victims personally. 

“The way it happened really shocked us because no one could have expected something like that. What sane person can just kill children like that? I saw the bodies with my eyes. We were jumping over them,” he said.

“For the whole week I couldn't eat, I couldn't sleep. I couldn't remove this image out of my mind. People are becoming animals. This shows the world is coming to an end,” he said, referring to the numerous shooting incidents reported around the country in recent days. 

Siziwe Phungula, the aunt of Liyanda and Sthembiso Mjoli, who also lives in Joburg, said they found Liyanda’s body in the middle of the street while Sthembiso died in hospital on the night of the shooting. 

She said eyewitnesses who were outside when the incident happened said the killers arrived at the tavern in a Toyota Quantum. They had guns. They went in, locked the doors and then started shooting indiscriminately at patrons, even those who were at the pool table or watching soccer.

“We don’t know the motive because they were not robbed. Even Liyanda was found with his phone, with blood on it showing that he was trying to make a call,” she said.

“It looks like he was shot inside the tavern but escaped and tried to make a call but they found him on the street and finished what they had started.”

She said Sthembiso had finished building his mother a house in December but had big dreams for his own home and three children — the youngest was a nine-month old girl.

This is the second tragedy to rock the Umzimkhulu area in the past month.

Seven people from town died in a horrific car accident in June, making it 20 deaths in less than a month.

Harry Gwala district mayor Zamo Nxumalo said they needed divine intervention because the number of deaths was “overwhelming”.

He said the municipality had not experienced such tragedy since 2017 when five councillors, including the late Sindiswa Magaqa, were shot dead. 

“We have been hit very badly because last month there was an accident in Howick, under Umgungundlovu district, only to find out a few days later that seven of the victims were from Umzimkhulu. Recently we heard about this tavern shooting in Johannesburg, and again the majority are from Umzimkhulu,” Nxumalo said.

“So we are very hurt and overwhelmed by it all.”

KwaZulu-Natal premier Sihle Zikalala, said this was one of the most “extraordinarily painful” incidents that the people of KwaZulu-Natal has suffered.

“No one could've thought that 13 people who died in Soweto would be coming from one location in the area of Umzimkhulu,” he said.

“It is a difficult situation, more so for those family who had lost more than one member of the family. This is a painful experience.”

He thanked the Gauteng government for the support for the bereaved families, like coffins, and for ensuring that the remains were transported in a dignified manner.

“This calls on us to ensure that we look at the safety of all public areas, whether they are liquor outlets like taverns or whether they are sports, public facilities, we should look at the security and safety in those areas.

“We have the KZN liquor authority whose jurisdiction is in KZN, notwithstanding that this happened in Gauteng. We will continue to tighten and enforce regulations that taverns close on time. There are prescribed times for all taverns to close. It does not only expose people to killings but even to social stability because it affects whole communities,” Zikalala said. 

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