'HOW MANY MORE MUST DIE?'

Community calls for action after child shot

- GENEVIEVE SERRA and MARSHA DEAN

A MANHUNT has been launched after gunmen opened fire on a home, resulting in the deaths of two adults and a nine-year-old child.

(AYANDA NDAMANE Independent Newspapers)

NINE-YEAR-OLD Zechariah Matthee’s heart was exploding with excitement for the December school holidays, but his life came to an abrupt end on Tuesday night when masked gunmen shot him while he tried to hide inside a cupboard in his Rocklands home.

Zechariah was killed among two other persons including his aunt, Cleo Bailey, 19, and a male, Mougsheen Daniels, 26 in what is believed to be a targeted gang hit, with innocent bystanders and 60 bullet casings removed from the scene.

Zechariah was a learner at Caradale Primary School in Rocklands with the Western Cape Education Department providing counselling to staff and learners affected.

Angered residents including the Community Policing Forum (CPF), civic organisations and ratepayers have called for the house at 10 Viscount Street, Rocklands, Mitchells Plain to be condemned under the City’s Problem Building Unit (PBU), citing the house is a known “Pela pos” (gang and drug hangout) where several shootings have taken place.

The house is believed to be the stronghold of the Fancy Boys gang having previously been run by the Hard Livings gang in the past with rivals the Americans on their doorstep.