Soshanguve mass shooting: One family considering relocating for safety

Phomolong Malakapatlo (26) was shot and killed alongside three others in the early hours of New Year's and is not the first person in her family to die in this manner in Soshanguve.

Soshanguve mass shooting: One family considering relocating for safety

JOHANNESBURG - A Soshanguve family that has lost a relative to a New Year's shooting said it considering moving out of the Pretoria north township for their safety.

Twenty-six-year-old Phomolong Malakapatlo was shot and killed alongside three others in the early hours of New Year's Day.

Malakapatlo is not the first person in her family to be shot and killed in Soshanguve as her family says her grandmother was also brutally murdered more than 20 years ago.

This time, the family said it's enough and it can't risk losing another family member to a gunshot, let alone a stray bullet.

Malakapatlo's uncle Zingisile Jonga stated they've made a collective decision to move out of Jukulyn - a community notoriously known for crime.

"We are now discussing with other siblings of mine that if we consider the family to relocate because Phomolang's mother died violently like this," said Jonga.

He added that it is abnormal that the area has conditioned community members to think murder and violence are normal.

READ: Soshanguve mass shooting: Police overwhelmed with cases as crime runs rampant

Meanwhile, the family of a teenage girl who was shot and killed in Soshanguve said seeing her alleged killers appear in court was painful.

Fourteen-year-old Vuyolwethu Ziwela is among the four people who were fatally shot on New Year's Eve.

Two men - Tshepo Mosemeni and Sipho Kgomo were arrested for the mass murder and made their first appearance in the Soshanguve Magistrates Court on Thursday.

Ziwela's aunt, Yandiswa Nhlapo said it's aggravating that the accused are from the same community.

"The only thing we can ask for them to change their ways of doing things and jail them forever. That's the only thing we want ask from them," said Nhlapo.

She also said seeing the two men linked to their child's murder made the pain unbearable.

"There is no other way that we can explain it. We are broken, we are crushed. My mom is a 65-year-old, she just lost her daughter," she added.

The accused, who face four counts of murder and a charge of attempted murder are set to appear in court for a formal bail application next week.