Anguish as breadwinner gunned down

Security guard Sicelo Nkosi died in a hail of bullets when gunmen clashed with security guards at Durban’s Brook Street taxi rank.

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Durban - Security guard Sicelo Nkosi, his ageing parents’ last surviving child and great hope, died in a hail of bullets this week after a night working to provide his family’s next meal.

Nkosi, 29, has been identified as the passer-by struck by a bullet when gunmen clashed with security guards at Durban’s Brook Street taxi rank. The harrowing image of his lifeless body featured in several news reports.

His parents, his toddler daughter and young girlfriend now have to come to terms with his sudden death. The daunting task of funeral arrangements has begun.

Nkosi was the breadwinner for his mother and father who live in Hluhluwe. His mother, Lungile Ndwandwe, in a brief interview with The Mercury on Thursday, said Nkosi was her last surviving child. The rest were all dead.

“It was late in the morning when I received a call from his girlfriend. I can’t tell you how I felt … but I’m hurt. Speaking about this is deepening the fresh wounds. I’m shattered. I just lost my last child,” she said.

Before hanging up, overcome with grief, she said the family had lost a breadwinner.

Nkosi, who worked for a security company contracted to the Durban University of Technology, lived in Umlazi with his girlfriend.

Salias Modiba of Mi-7 Security, the company Nkosi worked for, said the company had been shocked by the news.

“We received a call in the morning while I was on duty and I sent a colleague to check what was happening. When he arrived he found him lying on the ground,” he said. Another colleague, who had been with him during the shooting, collapsed at the scene and had to be taken to hospital for treatment.

Modiba said the killing was “very painful”, especially since Nkosi had “not done anything wrong”.

The SAPS said on Thursday that 24 people had been arrested. “All suspects were from both taxi associations in conflict. They will appear in the Durban Magistrate’s Court soon,” police spokesman Thulani Zwane said. Twenty-five firearms had been confiscated.

The Mercury