Four men suspected to be Malawians were shot dead by gunmen while another person sustained injuries during the same attack at Wellington in South Africa on Saturday evening.
Police are yet to identify the four but locals said they are foreigners who had lived in the Western Cape town of Wellington for about seven years.
South African SAPS spokesperson Brig Novela Potelwa said the police were carrying out the process of identifying the four men.
“Reports from the scene indicate that gunmen clad in black with [their] faces concealed entered a property in Mnandi Street, Newrest, Wellington, and went to a shack at the back of the premises. Several shots were fired, resulting in the death of four men in their twenties and one [other] sustaining serious gunshot injuries,” Potelwa said.
The fifth victim was shot in the chest and face and was taken to hospital where he was admitted.
South African media reports says the four men are suspected to be Malawians.
Chairperson of the local community police forum, Stephan Landsberg, told South Africa’s News24 that the four worked in Wellington town for about seven years.
“We have no idea yet what the motive for this was. Everything is still unclear,” he said.
Reports on social media, which Malawi24 could not independently verify, show that one of the victims owed money and was failing to pay the loan. The lender then organized the hit on the borrower and the gunmen found five men at the shack.
