Cape Town - A township entrepreneur was gunned down in a hijacking incident at the weekend.
Namhla Lizo Mgqibelo from Crossroads was dropping his friends off in Luyoloville, Gugulethu, when he was attacked in the early hours of Sunday. His car, a black VW Polo, was later found in Gugulethu.
Community policing forum’s Linda Kabeni said: “We are deeply saddened by this barbaric, evil act.
“We condemn this murder in the strongest terms, we have lost a rare breed, he was a fashion designer and he was contributing to fashion, giving international flavour to South African fashion.
“We have lost a great one, a cut above the rest. He was also a teacher, a motivational person, with a vibe, we are extremely disappointed to lose someone like that.”
Kabeni said Mgqibelo inspired the young children in the townships.
“We need more people like that for the youth to be engaged in other things other than crime. Where are we going to get someone like that again? “The NYDA member met the guy on Saturday night and he was wearing
Namhla’s brand, the member expressed he was willing to uplift him to other levels in the national space. He would have gone far with his career, but his life was cut short.”
Kabeni told the Cape Argus they were working with the police to curb hijackings in Gugulethu.
“We would like all law-enforcement agencies to work together and we want to see the culprits arrested and convicted. We are working with SAPS and patrollers to make sure there are more vans to curb the hijackings in our communities.
“We had a meeting and appealed for more visibility in our mall, which is a hot spot for criminal activities; people are targeted at the entrances. We are under siege in Gugulethu.”
Police spokesperson FC van Wyk confirmed the incident and said no one had been arrested.
“Circumstances surrounding a shooting incident on Sunday at about 1.10am where a 33-year-old man was shot and injured and taken to a nearby hospital for medical treatment are under investigation.
“According to reports, the victim was admitted to hospital with a gunshot wound to the chest, and he was declared dead on arrival.”