Pretoria - Residents of Mamelodi have challenged the police to trace and arrest the killers of 33-year-old Bheki Sithole, who was shot and killed at a tavern on Monday morning in front of a large audience.
The tragedy came against the backdrop of the weekend’s tavern massacres in Soweto, Katlehong and Pietermaritzburg.
In the Mamelodi incident, police were reportedly looking for three suspects who wore balaclavas and stormed into the tavern full of revellers, fired in the air and shot one man dead.
However, yesterday the Sithole family rejected the reports as “lies” and asked the police to do proper investigations to dispel false information being spread.
They told Pretoria News they were surprised by police reports that the suspects stormed into Monaco Tavern and fired shots in the air before turning the gun on Sithole.
They said they had shown the police a video taken during the shooting.
Brother Calvin Sithole said: “We understand people are concerned and thought maybe my brother was killed in an incident like the ones that have been trending, but that information is not correct. In fact, we know the three young men who shot and killed my brother.
“These are some young criminals known for petty crimes and spending their youth in prison. They were not wearing balaclavas. The shooter shot my brother twice in the head and once on the body.
“We have a video that shows the suspect shooting, and we showed it to the police. All these other reports surprised us. We want this matter investigated as an independent case and the killers brought to book.
“We are still trying to put information together but the little that we could gather was that my brother was killed by a criminal who was just insecure and trying to impress a girl he was with.
“The woman was sitting with my brother and she ended up with my brother’s phone in her hand, taking selfies with it.
“Her boyfriend apparently asked the woman if she knew him and she said no. Then he asked her if he could shoot him and she, probably scared, said yes. Just like that he went and fetched a firearm and shot him.
“After killing my brother he fired shots in the air to scare everyone. Then he and his two friends fled the scene. When I arrived and pathologists uncovered my brother for me to see him, there were no signs on his body to indicate he was involved in a scuffle or anything like that.
“They took his phone and cash he had in his pockets.”
People from the area who knew Sithole said they were shocked because he was not a violent person, and he was not involved in anything gang or crime-related.
He was just known for fixing cars, including taxis and state vehicles, from his mother’s home.
Sithole was a breadwinner at his home and a father of three children aged 10, 6 and 2.
Pretoria News