Mystery over bodies found outside home

MYSTERY surrounds the gruesome discovery in Port Elizabeth early yesterday of two men shot dead execution-style, their bloodied bodies left by the side of the road in Walmer’s busy Fifth Avenue.

The bodies of Simphiwe Nkhanlipi and Mzwabantu Alpha Nakani lay exposed for several hours next to a tree on a resident’s front lawn before police arrived at 7.30am and cordoned off the scene.

There was confusion over the ages of the two men, however, with their mothers saying that Nakani was 17 and Nkhanlipi 18, while the police insisted they were older, putting their ages at 27 and 20.

Nakani was shot three times in the left side of the face and Nkhanlipi once in the forehead. Their bodies were lying side by side.

Bullet casings recovered at the scene will be sent for ballistic testing.

Nakani’s mother, who asked not to be named, could not contain her emotions as forensic pathologists turned over her son’s body. She threw herself on her daughter as she cried uncontrollably, raising her hands to the sky and shouting, ”Nkosi yam, Nkosi yam! (My God, my God!)”

The owners of the property where the bodies were found, Noel and Avril Smith, who are in their 60s, said they had called police at 9.50pm on Saturday after hearing the first shot.

However, they were only alerted to the presence of the bodies yesterday morning after a crowd from the nearby Airport Valley informal settlement, where both of the men lived, gathered outside their home.

An emotional scene unfolded in Fifth Avenue – a popular shortcut to the Port Elizabeth Airport for many motorists and businesses – as the crowd of residents grew larger by the minute.

Both mothers declined the police’s offer to look at the bodies of their sons before they were taken away.

Noel Smith said he and his wife were used to hearing occasional gunshots coming from Airport Valley, about 500m from their home.

“But there is no doubt the shooting on Saturday was in front of our house,” he said.

“I was sitting on the couch half asleep when I heard the first gunshot.

“It sounded like it was directly outside our window. That was at precisely 9.50pm.

“My wife phoned the police. Shortly after she called, I heard another four shots go off.

“I had seen two guys walking up the street and then down again.

“Shortly after I saw them for the second time, the gunshots went off,” Smith said.

“We weren’t too badly rattled as we had heard gunshots from the ‘Valley’ before.

“A few minutes after the shooting I went outside to check, but I didn’t see the bodies on the front lawn because of all the trees in my yard and the boundary fencing.” Smith said he found it concerning that police only came to the scene yesterday.

Police spokesman Warrant Officer Alwin Labans said officers had responded on Saturday night to a call about shots fired.

“Police went out and combed the area,” he said. “However, they were unable to find anything as it was dark and the lighting in the area was not good.”

Labans confirmed the shooting took place between 9pm and 11pm on Saturday and that about six shots had been fired.

“[Yesterday] morning, an Atlas security guard called the police to report two bodies in Fifth Avenue,” he said.

According to an officer on the scene, who asked not to be named, one of the victims only had socks on – his shoes were missing – suggesting he could have been fleeing before being shot.

A wallet was also found on one of the men, indicating that robbery might not have been the motive.

An Atlas security guard, who asked not to be named, said: “Initially we thought the men were just passed out under the tree.

“But when the security guard on duty took a closer look, he saw they were dead.”

Atlas Security operations manager Monty Montgomery said crime in that specific part of Walmer was out of control.

“Almost daily, we hear of burglaries and armed robberies in that section,” he said.

“Residents there are living in fear. Their homes and businesses are targeted on a daily basis.

“I know of people who sold their houses in the last month and moved out of that area as they could not take it anymore.

“In one case earlier this year, a home owner was stabbed in the arm during a confrontation inside his house.

“Naturally, residents have had enough and sooner or later this will boil over and they will take the law into their own hands.”

Montgomery warned that due to the recent spate of burglaries, in which wall safes had been ripped out – mostly with the use of crowbars and sledgehammers – several firearms had been stolen.

“They will now be used by criminals to commit further crime,” he said. – Additional reporting by Gareth Wilson