- Three people appeared in court on Wednesday in connection with the Khayelitsha killings.
- One of the three, charged for the latest killing spree, also faces seven other murder charges.
- A fourth person is expected to appear in court on Thursday for a murder which took place in March.
The questioning of 11 people, who were apprehended at a Sea Point Hotel following Saturday's killing spree in Khayelitsha, has yielded four suspects in connection with three different murder cases.
Three people appeared in the Khayelitsha Magistrate's Court on Wednesday, facing multiple murder charges.
National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila said Andile Valishiya, Dominic Isaacs and Fundile Maseti will remain in custody.
They will return to court on 2 June to apply for bail.
The Khayelitsha shooting spree began with the discovery of a body, with a gun and lots of money next to it, on the morning of 15 May.
By Monday, the death toll had reached 13 as some of the wounded succumbed to their injuries.
Three people, originally from Somalia, were among those shot dead.
Police spokesperson Brigadier Novela Potelwa said one suspect had also been charged for a multiple murder case, when seven people were killed in a volley of gunfire outside a house in Khayelitsha in March 2020.
"He appeared for that case today, also at the Khayelitsha court," said Potelwa.
Meanwhile, a fourth person, apprehended in Sea Point, is due in court in Khayelitsha on Thursday for a separate murder case in March 2021.
Nditha Tyhido, from the Khayelitsha Development Forum (KDF), called on intelligence agencies to get to the bottom of the shootings that have been terrorising the community.
"People have a sense of uncertainty – of not being sure what else is going to happen, and when and where it is going to happen," he said.
"It's very traumatising for the people of Khayelitsha."
Spree
He said the current speculation is that rival gangs of extortionists were behind the killing spree.
It has been suggested one group discovered that a shopkeeper had already paid another group, and that the two gangs apparently work in pre-agreed sections of Khayelitsha.
Tyhido said, with 13 new shack settlements built in Khayelitsha since the start of the Covid-19 declaration of disaster, and the poor suburb planning, criminals can easily slip through narrow alleys between shacks and houses to get to another part of Khayelitsha, hence the scattered murdered scenes.
Tyhido said this showed how urgent it is for Khayelitsha to get proper roads, good lighting and CCTV cameras, which can help trace criminals' paths.
"Police patrol vehicles cannot get in," he said.
"There is good work done by patrollers and the neighbourhood watch, but they need an eagle eye (CCTV) to track the perpetrators and prevent the false reporting that scatters resources."
They also need a new police station in Makhaza to cope with the expansion of Khayelitsha, he added.
Tyhido said an urgent meeting was held on Sunday with representatives of the City of Cape Town and political parties because the suburb has become a no-go zone for ambulances, fire engines and contractors, who are being attacked and robbed.