43-year-old Mortimer Williams washed his dishes before he made his way to his gig in Melville, Johannesburg, on New Year’s Eve.

He glanced down at his sterling white Nikes and saw some red blotches on his shoes. He thought he should give them a quick wipe, but when he looked again, the marks were gone – his mind was playing tricks on him.

He then made his way to popular restaurant Poppy’s, where he had been asked to do a music set on short notice for New Year’s Eve.

With his wife and child in Cape Town, Williams agreed because he did not want to spend New Year’s alone.

The place was abuzz with positive energy, high spirits and the hopefulness the New Year usually brings with it.

As the clock struck midnight, the countdown began. A new year was welcomed in.  

“I saw a friend of mine outside that I didn’t wish, so I walked out, wished him and turned back,” Williams said.

“Then I heard what sounded like crackers, but then I felt this thud against my back and that took me to the ground. I thought, ‘those were not crackers, they were gunshots’.”

Rain of bullets

A black BMW SUV had driven past the restaurant just after 01:00 and opened fire, killing two women and injuring six other people.

The reason for the shooting is unknown, but police have launched a manhunt for the gunmen.

Williams said there was no argument beforehand, no commotion, just a sudden rain of bullets.

Williams said he heard more than six gunshots before the place erupted in panic and chaos. He put his face to the ground.

“People were screaming, running, ducking under tables… I didn’t want to see anything else anymore,” he said.

Eventually, a Good Samaritan rushed to Williams’ side, took off his shirt and placed it on his wound. He told Williams to keep breathing and to keep his eyes open.  

The bullet went clean through Williams’ back, leaving an entry and exit wound.

“I managed to call a friend who came immediately, and he sat with me. He forced me to keep my attention on him, because to my right, two ladies were dying.

‘I’m not ready to die’

“But I just looked to my right and they passed on,” Williams said.

With his friend beside him, he started to pray. All he could think was, “I’m not ready to die, I’m not ready to die, I’m not ready to die”.

“You don’t have a choice; all you can do is lay down and think. And even with the chaos around you, there’s this weird calm that comes over you. It’s very surreal.”

The police and ambulance arrived very swiftly, Williams said, immediately getting to work on the women lying next to him. But they had already died. A silver blanket was pulled over their heads.

They took Williams to Helen Joseph Hospital, where he is still recovering.

“In the ER, I looked down at my shoes and I saw almost the same blotches on my shoes as before, but this time it was blood.

“That was a premonition, and I should have known,” he said.

Williams said the bullet narrowly missed his kidneys and colon, and made a clean exit through his pelvis.

He has been walking around the hospital and talking to other victims of the tragedy.

“When you look into their eyes, you just see sort of a blank stare”

“That’s sort of like therapy for us, to get it out and analyse what happened. But when you look into their eyes, you just see sort of a blank stare. I haven’t looked into my own eyes,” he said.

Acting Gauteng Premier Panyza Lesufi, along with Community Safety MEC Faith Mazibuko, will visit the victims on Friday.

Williams said he had also spoken with police on Thursday morning. 

“It does make you angry, it upsets you.

“My daughter is going to be 13 years old next year. From a safety point of view, where does that leave us?

“As human beings, how can someone be so brazen and just fire into a crowd of people just wanting to go into the new year on a clean slate and have fun?”

Williams said he would be moving forward and would not live in fear.

“God has given me a second chance and I need to pursue the goals and dreams I have. It all could have changed so easily,” he said.

A man has allegedly been murdered following a dispute at an initiation graduation just outside Queenstown, Eastern Cape police said on Wednesday.

“A misunderstanding about seniority in the seating arrangement resulted [in] the murder of a 26-year-old man,” police captain Jackson Manatha said in a statement.

He said that the man clashed with another, aged 23, about who was more senior, which determined where they could sit during the traditional initiation graduation ceremony. The ceremony was being held at a home in Mzamo Section in Ilinge Township on Tuesday afternoon.

“Both men left the house which was full of people.

“It is alleged that the 23-year-old suspect drew his knife and fatally stabbed the 26-year-old man on his upper body.”

The alleged attacker was subsequently arrested. He will appear before the Ezibeleni Magistrate’s Court on a murder charge on Thursday.

 – Compiled by Mirah Langer

After homeless people in Muckleneuk, Tshwane, spent the first six months of 2019 living in fear, there hasn’t another attack since the last of five bodies of homeless people was found in the area in June.

According to police, the first body was found in a veld near Mears Park train station on June 1. Two more bodies were found in Magnolia Park on June 8 and 9.

WATCH | Profile of a killer: Who is murdering Tshwane’s homeless?

A fourth body was discovered on a pavement on the corner of Justice Mohammed and Troye streets on June 18, and a day later, on June 19, a fifth body was found at a bus stop near Unisa’s main campus.

No more murders of homeless men reported

While not much more is known about the killings, Gauteng police spokesperson Brigadier Mathapelo Peters told News24 that there haven’t been any reports of murders of homeless men since the fifth body was discovered in June.

There have also been no arrests or linkages.

Almost seven months ago, Gauteng police commissioner Lieutenant General Elias Mawela instructed a high-level task team, comprising forensics specialists, pathologists, criminal psychologists, Crime Intelligence officers and detectives to prioritise the investigation.

READ | Homeless killings: What we know so far about the Tshwane murders

But there still hasn’t been any justice for the victims.

Survivors

News24 previously reported that a homeless man who had been attacked said he lived in constant fear that his attacker would return to finish the job.

The man, who declined to reveal his identity to News24, used to live in Magnolia Park in Muckleneuk – the same park where the bodies of two homeless men were found.

He previously told News24 that he awoke early one morning in May to a man violently stabbing him multiple times.

READ | EXCLUSIVE | Homeless Killings – Nocturnal prowler a balaclava-wearing lone wolf

The attacker was clad in a black hooded jacket and wielded a large knife.

Since the attack, he moved out of Magnolia Park and sleeps in different suburbs in Tshwane. 

“I don’t know when this person is coming to finish me. I am scared,” he told News24.

Police also interviewed two homeless men who survived similar attacks.

Peters told News24 the task team had established the men had survived similar attacks in the area.

Identifying the victims

By the end of June, three of the victims had been positively identified. By August, two had been buried after the police managed to trace their families.

At the time, Peters said the police were still trying to locate the third victim’s next of kin.

READ MORE | Homeless killings: Fourth victim identified as a foreign national

Earlier in December, Peters told News24 that further progress had been made after the fourth victim had been identified as a foreign national.

The police have not disclosed the identities of the victims because the case is still under investigation.

Suspect arrested for attempted murder of homeless men

Meanwhile, in a case that has not been linked to the murders, a man, who is accused of stabbing two homeless men earlier this year, was arrested on June 26.

The accused, Manusi Mothupi, made several appearances in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court since his arrest, News24 previously reported.

The first charge against him stems from the attempted murder of a man who was stabbed near Magnolia Park on February 21. It is alleged he used a butcher’s knife to stab the homeless man in the stomach, hand and left knee.

The second attempted murder charge relates to an attack on another man on March 3, also in Magnolia Park. Mothupi allegedly stabbed him in his left arm and chest, according to the charge sheet.

Mothupi’s bail application was denied in November and he will remain behind bars until his next appearance on January 23, 2020, when the disclosure of the docket will be made and a trial date will be set.

The police and National Prosecuting Authority said Mothupi was not connected to the murders of the five homeless men.