Notorious Eastern Cape town again a centre of murder and violence

The area around the small Eastern Cape town of Ngcobo is again at the centre of murder and violence after four murders, one suicide and two murder-related arrests in the past few days.

Ngcobo and surrounds – located around 86km from Mthatha (formerly Umtata) and 200km from East London – gained national notoriety in February 2018 when five police officers and an off-duty soldier were shot and killed by gunmen who stormed into the town’s police station.

Incidents began unfolding Thursday night

Three days later, police traced the suspects to a local church called the Seven Angels Ministry and a raid on the church compound left seven people dead after a shootout.

In the latest series of incidents which began on Thursday evening, police arrested two suspects for the murders of four men, aged between 38 and 75, in a village in the Mtintloni Administrative Area near Ngcobo.

Provincial police spokesperson, Brigadier Tembinkosi Kinana, said that the first suspect was arrested near where the bodies of two neighbours, aged 44 and 75, were found. They had been shot.

Total of four people were found murdered

While the suspect was being taken to the local police station, the officers were called back to the village and found the bodies of a 49-year-old local chief and his 38-year-old brother. They had also been murdered.

A task team was formed to investigate the murders, and on Friday they arrested a second suspect, aged 22, and recovered two revolvers, a shotgun and ammunition.

Both suspects have been charged for the four murders and will appear in the Ngcobo Magistrate’s Court on Monday.

Local suicide may also be somehow related

Kinana said the 22-year-old suspect is related to a person who is believed to have committed suicide in the area at around the same time.

“Circumstances surrounding [this] incident are still unclear and an inquest docket has been registered,” Kinana noted.

Eastern Cape Provincial Commissioner, Lieutenant General Liziwe Ntshinga, applauded the swift police investigation and the arrest of the suspects.