Cape Town - Crimefighters have called on Eskom to suspend load shedding at night after three people were struck by gang bullets in Manenberg on Sunday night.
Police said as the lights went out in the Cape Flats community, gunshots rang out with one person killed and two others wounded.
Manenberg station commander, Brigadier Jayce Naidoo, said they recorded three separate shooting incidents as the precinct experienced the four-hour blackout.
Naidoo said: “On Sunday, as load shedding kicked in, sounds of gunfire erupted in the Manenberg residential area, leaving a 47-year-old male dead and a 33-year-old female with gunshot wounds to her left leg and a 41-year-old male with serious gunshot wounds to his stomach, in three separate shooting incidents.”
He explains in the first shooting in Don Road, the woman was struck in the leg as shots rang out shortly after 8pm.
Less than an hour later, a 41-year-old male - an alleged gangster, was shot several times as he entered a house in Hurricane Street.
He was taken for emergency medical treatment with two gunshots to his stomach.
Naidoo adds: “At 9:10pm, gunshots were heard and when the community came out to investigate they found a 47-year-old male, with a fatal gunshot wound to his head, in the parking area of Erica Court Manenberg.
“The suspects fled the scene on foot. No arrests has been made. Two cases of attempted murder and one case of murder has been opened for investigation.”
Community Policing Forum (CPF) chairperson, Pastor Vernon Visagie, said residents feared there would be an increase in shootings as the power utility announced that load shedding would return over the weekend.
“When we heard load shedding was back this [violence] was our biggest fear and in just a few hours we saw the results. There is already a new gang fight under way and now Eskom is adding fuel to the fire.”
Visagie said load shedding should be suspended at night to avoid innocent people getting hurt.
“The thugs are now operating under the cover of darkness.
“With a load shedding schedule available they know when to plan to shoot but the visibility is reduced and we are afraid that more innocent people will be hurt.
“We are calling on Eskom to come up with another plan. If they need to have load shedding, then they must come up with a way for it not to be at night.”