4th teen necklaced in East Rand

Johannesburg — A fourth boy has been brutally killed in Etwatwa on Johannesburg’s East Rand where three teenage boys were killed in gang violence this week. News24 was told that the boy, aged about 17, was set alight around noon yesterday in Etwatwa, Extension 8. It is believed that he died after being necklaced, police confirmed.

Ekurhuleni Metro Police were on their way to the scene. On Sunday, the first teenage boy was necklaced, and then twin boys were killed in the same way on Tuesday. They were 16-years-old. Residents told News24 this was part of gang violence.

The boy killed on Sunday was said to have been murdered by members of the OVL gang and then, in retaliation the twins — who were members of the OVL gang — were killed on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the family of 16-year-old twins Sabelo and Samkelo is still coming to grips with the fact that they are not only dead, but that they also were necklaced in an open field.

Holding back her tears on Wednesday afternoon, Elizabeth Mayisela, the pair’s great aunt, told News24 that for as long as she could remember, they were good boys who loved going to church.

“I know them as good boys, they were good boys and loved church. Where things went wrong I have no idea, but I knew them as kids who loved church.” She says she had heard that the boys were gang-affiliated. “People say they were also part of this OVL.” Three teenage boys have been killed and three houses burnt in violence between residents and gang members in Daveyton, on the East Rand.

Members of a gang called OVL killed a teenage boy in Etwatwa on Sunday by forcing a tyre over his body, dousing it with petrol and setting it alight. Four OVL members were arrested on Monday. On Tuesday, Sabelo and Samkelo Mayisela, both OVL members, were killed in the same fashion as the first boy, a practise known as necklacing.

On Wednesday, the grieving Mayisela family sat quietly in the living room as Elizabeth described the moment the family heard the news that their boys were being sought by an angry mob of residents from a neighbouring community. “My sister’s daughter [who also lives here] works late hours, when she was getting dropped off at home she saw a large crowd of people outside the house,” Elizabeth says. — News24