Mass funeral held for six slain members of Ncedo family in E Cape

Reading Time: 2 minutes

A mass funeral of six members of the Ncedo family who were shot dead in Tsolo has been held at Mpoza village in the Eastern Cape. They were shot in two separate incidents at the village two weeks ago.

The seventh member of the family was also shot dead in the Western Cape, with three other people a week later.

The incident has sent shock waves to the community of Tsolo.

Security was beefed up at the funeral.

Family members Thanduxolo and Ntombikhona Ncedo explain.

“We don’t know the cause of this tragedy and we don’t know what will happen next. The whole family had perished and we don’t know the reason. Our only hope now is the police. We want the people who did this to be brought to book,” says Thanduxolo.

“Even the people from Cape Town who were going to accompany us to come to the funeral decided not to come because they became scared. Here at home, we are always scared. When we see a car coming, we run and hide. Our grandfather even said we must not run away because the police will shoot and think we are the killers,” explains Ntombikhona.

Traditional leaders are calling for the intervention of the government to deal with crime in the area. Chief Bakhanyisele Ranuga says they have been asking for the construction of a police station, but their requests have landed on deaf ears.

“We are very devastated about this incident. It shows that people are not secure, and as such people feel that they are not secure. We’ve been appealing to government to at least construct a police station because we believe that the nearest police stations are too far and unavailable. It’s Tsolo and Ugie those that are nearer to us, so they are not accessible to this community. A similar incident happened sometime 10 years ago and it was the Tshetsha family where they lost family members in one day, more than seven family members shot dead in one day and today we are here to bury more than six family members who were shot in one day.”

Tsolo Mass Murder | E Cape government to assist with funeral costs: