Jumpers informal settlement, locked behind a green devil’s fork fence and squeezed ‘in-between’ industrial buildings in Cleveland and on the site of the Jumpers Deep Gold Mine Ltd, East Incline shaft, now defunct, has seen its first horrifying mass killing.
The night was settling for residents, some preparing themselves for bed, others fast asleep. The sound of Hospital Street, silent, short for a few cars passing by.
When suddenly the ‘pah, pah, pah’ of fireworks startled everyone in the newer, multicoloured, and neatly spaced-out dwellings near Jumper’s entrance and the cramped, rusted shacks towards its back.
But when the rapid ‘fireworks’ kept going for almost an hour, panic and fear set in.
Those were not the sounds of fireworks. It was the sound of more than 20 people (12 dead, 10 injured) bleeding out from multiple hands on a rifle.
‘Please don’t die’
“I was holding on to my child,” a female resident told The Citizen the morning after the shooting.
Wrapped in a doek and a blanket around her waist, she reenacted leaping for her child on their shared bed, pressing her body into the child.
“I kept saying, ‘ Please don’t die, please don’t die’,” she continued with quick breaths.
Another woman recounted getting off her bed to lie on the floor, “I thought that [the shooters] were sent to us as I am a committee member of the settlement.”
“The shooting was everywhere,” she exclaimed, pointing to her former shack, where the crime scene unfolded, before pointing to the newer shacks where she stayed.
Police confirmed that at least 10 heavily armed individuals entered Jumpers informal settlement through two entrances after being dropped by off a Toyota Quantum at a nearby garage.
“There was nowhere to run,” she said. “It was tough hearing all those gunshots. So loud.”
‘These guys were on a mission’
Prince Gamade, who has lived in Jumpers since 2007, said the rounds lasted more than 30 minutes.
“It was going on for a long time. I haven’t heard of gunshots like this, only in the movies,” he said.
Resident Charlie Khumalo added that the assailants’ faces were obscured with material similar to balaclavas.
Cleveland police station sits five minutes away, yet “it took an hour [for them] to arrive on scene, ” said Khumalo.
The gate protecting Jumpers is usually manned by security during the day, but Gamade said it wouldn’t have mattered if they were there.
“These guys were on a mission. Even if the security were there, they were going to shoot them. They destroyed everything that they came across.”
With the length of the crime, “it was like they were looking for someone and anyone they came across was dead meat.”
It’s the mines, the illegal ones
Since living there, Gamade said he had never seen anything like this, although he had witnessed gunfights linked to illegal mining before, which usually left fewer people injured.
“Jumpers was a peaceful place until two years ago when Lesotho nationals arrived in bits and pieces.”
With the derelict mine nearby, Gamade now describes Jumpers as a place riddled with petty fights, amongst groups of zama zamas over the potential discovery of gold.
While it could not be confirmed, police are working on the assumption that it is linked to illegal mining and possible warring factions in the area.
“There are no positive leads as it’s too early. As you know, this area is just adjacent to the illegal mining area. However, we cannot confirm whether this incident was caused by illegal mining.
“We have those suspicions, but one can term this incident to be insane, to be heartless, to a certain extent, or, to a certain extent, it is barbaric,” said Gauteng Police Commissioner Tommy Mthombeni.
“People are always firing guns in Jumpers, but police must do their job for this case.
“We are shaken,” Gamade said, solemnly looking at his feet.
Voice wavering in pain, Khumalo whispered, “This is my home. When dusk arrives today, we don’t know if they will come back and shoot us again.”