While President Cyril Ramphosa was visiting the family of murdered eight-year-old Tazne van Wyk of Ravensmead on Tuesday, a seven-year-old girl was shot dead while playing in her front yard in Ocean View.
Little Emaan Solomons passed away as she arrived at a local hospital.
A few streets away, cops were dispatched to Andromeda Way, where the bullet-riddled body of Abdullah Ellis, 31, was found inside his hokkie.
It is understood Ellis was shot in the early hours of Tuesday already but his body was only found hours later.
Abdullah Ellis was shot dead in his hokkie on a veldjie in Ocean View. Picture: Leon Knipe
The murders come just days after about 5000 gatvol residents marched to the houses of drug merchants in the area, calling for them to pack up and move out.
Wednesday, MEC for Community Safety, Albert Fritz, confirmed the Anti-Gang Unit would now be deployed in the volatile streets of Ocean View.
“Upon visiting the SAPS station, I received a call from the Provincial Commissioner, Yolisa Matakata, and I requested that the Anti-Gang Unit be continuously deployed in the area to ensure that gang-related violence is subdued, to which she graciously agreed.”
Just after 6pm on Tuesday, while Emaan, a Grade 2 pupil at Kleinberg Primary School, played outside with her two friends, alleged members of the Junkie Funkies opened fire in Libra Way.
SENSELESS: Gangsters opened fire, killing child in yard. Picture: Leon Knipe
Emaan was shot in the hand and chest while her friends were unharmed.
Aunt Natalie Solomons, 32, says she and Emaan’s mother, Nicole Solomons, 30, were inside the house while the door was open and the kids were playing outside.
COMFORT: Azmir Oosthuizen, Nicole Solomons. Picture: JACK LESTRADE
“Emaan came inside just before that and put on the kettle because it was bath time,” she says.
Natalie says as the shots rang out, their friend Brent ran outside and screamed: “I went outside and saw her little body. I shouted for help and I called the neighbours and her mom was in shock.”
Sadly Emaan passed away at False Bay Hospital.
Natalie says Emaan was a loveable little girl who “loved lipstick and lipgloss, to dance and model.”
HARTSEER: Aunt Natalie. Picture: JACK LESTRADE
Emaan had two brothers aged four and ten.
Her heartbroken father, Azmir Oosthuizen, 30, says he rushed to the house after receiving a message that a child had been shot.
“I got the message in a WhatsApp group and I was at my parents’ home and they said that a girl had been shot in Libra Way and I messaged in the group. I said I hope it is not my girl or any of my boys.
“As I drove up Hercules Way, a neighbour stopped me and said it was Emaan.
“I just lost it, I could not take it. I drove 140km/h and when I got here, my girl was lying there, she just waited for me.
“I held her, she took her last breath, I felt her pulse, just two heart beats.
“When they loaded her in the ambulance, there was no hope for her.”
CRIME SCENE: Abdullah Ellis was shot dead in his hokkie on a veldjie in Ocean View. Picture: Leon Knipe
Azmir said just on Sunday, Emaan had stood at the window and watched residents protesting against violence.
“She asked why the people were marching and I said to her so that everyone can be safe,” the dad said crying.
Meanwhile Nicole, who had gone to the mortuary to formally identify her child’s body, broke down in tears when she arrived home.
“This needs to come to an end,” the hartsee r mom said.
“It is not the parents but the children who are being shot and killed.
“These children cannot play in the backyard, or front yard, they cannot be free. We as a community need to stand together, this is a continuous thing that is happening.”
Meanwhile, Abdullah’s aunt, Fatima Ellis, 52, says he was a druggie and lived on the street.
“Six years ago, he chose his own path and made a home for him here on the field. He did not want to live under rules when he started using drugs.”
Mayor Dan Plato visited Emaan’s parents, calling for life imprisonment for the skollies who killed her.
NO MERCY: Mayor Dan Plato. Pictur
e: Jack Lestrade
Police spokesperson, Sergeant Noloyiso Rwexana, says no arrests have been made yet in both of the violent murders.