Shock as businessmen die one by one!

THE mood in this kasi is tense.

Local businesspeople don't know who's next.

Already, three businessmen were shot dead in Ratanda, Heidelberg.

The latest to die is Happy Nyawuza (40), he was killed last Friday, 1 March, just after 8pm during load shedding.

His cousin, Nkosinathi Ngondo (30), was shot alongside him.

And the beef is alleged to have been over the shops which used to be owned by foreign nationals.

The foreign nationals are allegedly angry after local businesspeople took over their shops.

In 2023, residents kicked all foreign national shop owners out of ekasi.

This was after a child died after eating snacks bought from one of their spaza shops.

Local businesspeople continued trading in those shops.

But this allegedly didn't go down well with the foreign spaza shop owners, as they vowed the residents would never trade in their shops.

"We were not going to allow the shop to stand idle while we can do something about them," said one of the targeted businessmen.

Most of the businesspeople who took over foreign nationals' shops have closed their businesses since Happy was shot dead last Friday.

His mum, Emmah Nyawuza, said she knew all along that her son was going to be killed.

"In September last year, I received a voicenote in isiZulu telling me to make sure that my funeral policy is up to date because I had given birth to a rotten child, and they were going to eliminate him."

Emmah said she went to Ratanda Police Station, but cops told her it was hard to trace where the voicenote came from as the sender used an unknown number.

She had since lost the voicenote.

"The suspects who killed Happy were known to him. We know he'll fight to bring his killers to justice."

On the day Happy was killed, his mum said she had been told suspects came to his place in two cars, one red and the other white.

"They found Nkosinathi doing laundry and told him they were looking for Happy. I'm told he contacted Happy and confirmed he was at the shop. The killers went there to shoot him inside the shop.

"Nkosinathi went to the spaza shop wanting to find out if his cousin was indeed there, but the killers who were already there and also shot him dead just outside the shop," Emmah said.

His sister, Ouma Hlahane, said her brother was a community activist and was vocal about the wrongs affecting his people.

"He was also generous, helping the destitute with groceries, some of which were taken from the spaza shop he ran.

Two other businessmen who died were Mandla Nconco (55) and Moeketsi Mollo.

Lieutenant Colonel Mavela Masondo confirmed the shootings and said investigations were underway.