Stray bullet claims life of 5-year-old in Nyanga

THE tragic death of a five-year-old girl who was hit by a stray bullet while walking to the shop with her aunt in Nyanga, has sparked outrage and renewed calls for urgent safety interventions from community leaders.

Little Melokuhle Tshaka was shot on Monday evening along Klipfontein Road, Lusaka, as gunfire erupted in the area shortly before 7pm.

According to a community member, the girl had just left home with her aunt to buy groceries for supper when the shooting occurred.

“Her aunt asked her to go to the shop with her. They were not even ten minutes out and there were three gunshots. The aunt carried the child, the bullet hit her in the back and came out the front,” said the community member.

With no ambulance immediately available, the family used private transport to rush her to KTC Day Hospital. However, she was declared dead on arrival.

Police spokesperson FC van Wyk said: “Nyanga police registered a murder case following a shooting incident on July 28 at about 6:40pm at Klipfontein Road, Lusaka, Nyanga, where a five-year-old child was shot and fatally wounded. Members were informed by hospital staff that the child had arrived with a gunshot wound to her upper body after being hit by a stray bullet while walking from the shop.”

Nyanga CPF secretary-general Dumisani Qwebe said he was informed of the tragedy on Monday evening.

“We are saying again: we cannot allow these kids to be killed like this. It’s very challenging for the community. Whatever the problem was, it didn’t have to end with an innocent child being murdered like that,” he said.

No arrests have been made, and Qwebe warned that fear of retaliation is preventing residents from coming forward.

“People are scared to talk, scared they’ll be killed. That’s why there’ve been no arrests, not even in the two other child shooting cases in the past two months.”

Human rights organisation Ilitha Labantu said the girl's death as part of a devastating pattern of violence against children on the Cape Flats.

Spokesperson Siyabulela Monakali said: “The loss of such a young life under these horrific circumstances is not only heartbreaking but utterly unacceptable. This is not an isolated case. Just last week, 7-year-old Lolitha Kowa was murdered in Khayelitsha. Our children are being stolen from us.”

He said the continued killing of children was a direct result of systemic failure by authorities.

“Violence in the townships of the Cape Flats has held families and communities hostage for far too long. There has been no meaningful effort from... Government to actively address the scourge of violence. Our children cannot be collateral damage in a broken system.”

Monakali reiterated the need for long-term, community-centred solutions.

Cape Times