Hours before Police Minister Bheki Cele announced Delft as the second highest precinct for murder nationally, Wendy Kloppers was gunned down while doing an inspection at a housing construction site in the area.
Kloppers worked as an official in the City’s Environmental Affairs Department.
She is one of five people shot at the Power Construction’s N2 Gateway site in just a week.
Last week, three construction workers were shot and wounded and a petrol bomb was launched at the site in what is referred to as the construction mafia running an extortion ring.
A week ago, Mathlodi Maseko, DA spokesperson on Human Settlements said there had been 14 cases of housing extortion reported.
Kloppers had been sitting inside a white BMW on Thursday when she was shot, sustaining multiple gunshot wounds. A passenger who was with her was wounded in the arm.
It seems that Kloppers had been waiting for the security guard to open the gate at the construction site when an unknown male approached the car on foot and fired several shots at the driver’s side.
Kloppers tried to escape the gunman and rammed into the gate. The gunman then fled the scene by car.
Kloppers’ distraught husband, Raelton Kloppers, said they were devastated.
“We just received the news Thursday night. We’re not ready to speak right now; we are shocked by what has happened.”
Police spokesperson, Warrant Officer Joseph Swartbooi said police had yet to determine the motive and have made no arrests.
The site is home to a R500 million housing project which will accommodate beneficiaries of Blikkiesdorp to Freedom Farm where 3 300 homes will be built and begin in March 2022.
The City has offered a R100 000 reward for info on Kloppers’ killers.
Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis said the spate of shootings affected the family of the deceased, as well as the surviving victims, including housing beneficiaries, and have called for the killers to be brought to book.
“We urge the South African Police Service to do whatever it takes to hunt down and find the perpetrators responsible for this violence. We are also increasing our reward to R100 000 for information leading to the successful prosecution of those responsible for the murder of this City official.
“I have been in contact with the family of our deceased staff member to convey our deepest condolences.
“We feel devastated as an organisation today, and have a clear message for the public, the Delft community, and the future beneficiaries of this housing project: help us find the killers, and help us protect this housing project so that it is not derailed.
“We will not be intimidated by selfish thugs. We have a mission to deliver much-needed housing to our poorest communities that really need it,” said mayor Hill-Lewis.
A witness at Kloppers incident, who cannot be identified, said he watched how the gunman fled inside a vehicle.
“I just heard the shots ring out and then the gunman jumped into a Polo Vivo and fled the scene.”
A construction worker who was shot at the same site last week, along with two colleagues, said he has been on the housing list for 14 years and fears for his life.
“As I am sitting here now, I am fearing because what do they want. A message must be sent: what do they want from us or are they the construction Mafia?
“My colleagues and I were sitting together on the day of the incident and they just (two men) came here and they began to shoot. I think they stopped shooting because they had no more bullets.”
Weekend Argus also reached out to site management at the construction site for Power Construction and they promised to give commentary but hasn’t done so as yet.
Delivering the third quarter crime statistics yesterday, Police Minister Beki Cele called on residents of Mfuleni, Alexandra, Inanda, Seshego, Mitchells Plain, Diepsloot, Umlazi, and all the other policing areas with “stubborn crime patterns”, to be agents and activists against crime.
"We know and understand that police alone will not be able to drive out criminality on our streets, in our alleyways, in our homes, schools, and places of leisure and worship. We call on communities to take charge and be allies in safety," said Cele.
Five of the police stations with the highest number of murder cases reported in the country all come from the Western Cape, with Mfuleni topping the list, followed by Delft in second place provincially.
Delft recorded 86 murders during the 2022 third quarter, up from 81 murders in the 2021 third quarter. Other stations that top the list nationally are Nyanga, Kraaifontein and Harare.
During October 2022 to December 2022, there were 89 cases that were reported in Mfuleni, an increase from 57 murders during the same period in 2021.
Ian Cameron, of the Action Society, said the stats were shocking and indicated that the country's policing was in disarray.
"SA police don't have proper structures and personnel, and there’s no crime intelligence to prevent crime before it happens. Having many boots on the ground doesn't mean that we have a solution for crime; more needs to be done.
“Currently, we have three murders per hour on the national level, one rape every 10 minutes, and six rapes per hour. This is unacceptable," said Cameron.