THE family of two Nyanga women, who were shot and killed while sitting inside their home, are scared to hold evening prayer services at their home.
Ekasi, whenever a person dies, abahlali visit the victim's home every evening for church services.
But this was not the case with the Khutu family in Nyanga, whose family members Nonzima Khutu (53) and Ncumisa Khutu (43) were killed in a hail of bullets.
The aunt of the two murdered women, Lindiwe Khutu (71), said they won't hold church services.
“At this point, we won't hold any church services because we don’t know what might happen. We pray with those who come to our house to pass condolences.
"We won't have church gatherings in the evenings. The way my nieces died requires us to be cautious. We don't want to endanger people's lives,” said Lindiwe.
A relative, who arrived while the SunTeam was at the house, said he was scared to visit the bereaved family after what had happened.
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The two cousins, who were killed on 21 February, had returned from work and were relaxing in the dining room when the incident happened around 6pm.
From nowhere, they heard gunshots, and bullets started raining in their house through a closed door.
As they tried to run away from the dining room to the bedrooms, Ncumisa and Nonzima were shot and died.
Their sick aunt Nomsa Khutu, who sat on the couch, was spared from the hail of bullets.
It's not the first time the family has suffered this kind of tragedy.
In 2016, Nomalizo Khutu, who was 83 at the time, was killed inside his bedroom when the perpetrators shot through her bedroom window.
They also shot her dog.
"She made a mistake of switching the light on. The gunmen saw and shot at her. We saw her body face-down in pool of blood," said Lindiwe.
She suspects the killers wanted her sister’s son, who is currently in jail, and they suspected he was released.
“On the day of the shooting, he had appeared in court and went back to jail. The shooters probably thought he was released and came to shoot him at the house."
Western Cape police spokesman, Colonel Andre Traut said the incident happened on Sibini Street around 6.20pm on 21 February.
He added that detectives from the Provincial Serious and Violent Crimes unit were probing circumstances that led to the deaths.
“Any person who can shed light on the matter is kindly requested to contact Crime Stop on 08600 10111 or use the mobile application My SAPS anonymously,” said Traut.
