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Durban - Five people were killed and at least nine others injured in two violent robberies in quick succession in Umlazi's G-section in KwaZulu-Natal early on Saturday, the province's MEC for social development said.
Speaking from Umlazi, Wesizwe Thusi said the families were completely devastated by the early morning robbery in which two women were also raped and a breastfeeding mother shot.
Initial information is that a group of three robbers had stormed into a tavern nearby and made the eight people inside go into a room. They robbed them of their cellphones and then made them lie down and shot them.
The robbers ran away, and targeted a house nearby for another robbery.
They got into the house and killed four people a 59-year-old woman, her son and two daughters.
Thusi said that neighbours who heard a commotion, called the police, who arrived quickly.
The police knocked on the window of the house and identified themselves.
They heard a young woman scream "I am being raped".
Police barged into the house to rescue the woman while a man tried to run away from them, shooting at police. Police shot back and he was killed.
A breastfeeding mother was also shot but survived. Her baby was physically not hurt but was inconsolable, said Thusi.
KwaZulu-Natal police spokesperson Colonel Thembeka Mbhele said three of the family members died in the house, and a fourth on the way to hospital. Police had also established that two women had been raped during the house robbery.
She said the community was shocked and scared.
"They are devastated. I am devastated. We are going to have to arrange a community dialogue for them," she said.
People on the scene said they recognised the dead robber so there was hope that the two who ran away will be caught quickly.
Police had also found out that the robber that was killed was arrested in connection with possession of an unlicensed firearm in November.
