Daily Sun (August 14 2014) - TWO GUN shots rang out and Japie lay dead on the ground.
He had taken a two-litre bottle of cooking oil from a tuckshop and he paid for his crime with his life.
NOBODY DENIES HE STOLE THE OIL, BUT LOCALS BELIEVE JAPIE SHOULD NOT HAVE DIED FOR HIS CRIME.
The owners of the shop have already been beaten up, their shops have been stripped, looted and wrecked and the shopkeepers are at the Evaton Police Station.
They are looking for protection. Josiah Ngwenya (28) - known as Japie - from Evaton in the Vaal, south of Joburg was allegedly shot in the head by the man who owns the tuckshop on Sterling Road yesterday afternoon.
Japie's friend, Bongani Mbhele (27), said Japie had been selling loose cigarettes to passing motorists in front of the shop for 15 years.
With his friend's blood still on his T-shirt, Bongani confirmed Japie had stolen the cooking oil. "A shop assistant saw what Japie was doing and called the shop owner," he said. He said the owner came out of his store with a gun, went over to Japie and allegedly shot him.
"I can't believe Japie's dead," said Bongani. Angry residents at the scene attacked the tuckshop owner, leaving him with serious head wounds. Police spokesman Constable Tshifhiwa Mitileni said the man was taken to the hospital, where he is in a critical but stable condition.
"He was charged with murder and we're still looking for the firearm used to commit the crime." When Japie's uncle, Nkosana Nkosi (48), arrived at the scene a fist fight broke out between Nkosana and friends of the dead man. Nkosana said his friends could have saved Japie. Cops had to break up the fight.
The uncle said Japie was reckless at times. "But he didn't have to die for cooking oil." Angry residents gathered at the scene and broke into the suspect's store. They left with flour, maize meal, cooking oil, sugar, cold drinks and even fridges.
The people then attacked two more shops owned by foreigners, taking all the stock and equipment.
A shopkeeper on Sterling Road was lucky to escape when he was found locked inside his store.
When Evaton and Gauteng Public Order cops arrived, the looting stopped - but then it spread to zone 3 and Evaton North. Mitileni said seven people were arrested for public violence. By 4pm all foreign-owned shops had closed down with owners fleeing the Evaton area in trucks and bakkies loaded with stock and equipment.
See the Daily Sun mobi site for more on this and other stories....
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