A suspect wanted for the killing of nine people in Sydenham, Durban, in October 2021 has been arrested in northern KwaZulu-Natal, almost five years after the shootings.
Detectives from the KwaZulu-Natal Murder and Robbery Unit arrested the man in the Obuka area of Melmoth on Wednesday night, 23 September 2026. Police said he had been hiding there. He is expected to appear in the Durban Magistrate’s Court on Friday, 25 September 2026, on multiple counts of murder.
The case dates to Saturday, 16 October 2021. That night, six people were shot and killed at a house in the Palmiet Road informal settlement in Sydenham. A short distance from that house, three more people were shot and killed in two further incidents the same night. Police said they believed the same suspects were responsible.
At the time, police said the victims were shot in the head and that 9mm cartridge cases were recovered at three houses. Community members told police they believed two men were involved. The investigation was referred to the Murder and Robbery Unit.
Two suspects were later identified. One was traced to Empangeni. Police said he resisted arrest and was fatally wounded in a shootout with officers. The second suspect remained at large until this week’s arrest in Melmoth.
Contemporaneous reporting after the 2021 shootings identified victims at the first house as including two children, Thandolwethu Mathangana, aged about five or six, and Yanga Mathangana, aged about nine, as well as adults including Ncedani Mndaweni, also reported as Sibayanda Nceclani, Hombakazi Baliso, also reported as Bauso Hombakazi, Clifford Moyo, and a woman identified in some reports only as Nowinte or as unidentified at the scene. Relatives said the children’s mother was not in the house at the time. Two other people found dead nearby were identified as Fikiswa Shomela and a man known locally as Patcha. A ninth victim, Siphelele Maphisa, also reported as Sphesihle Maphisa, was found dead in another dwelling. Police contemporaneous statements confirmed nine dead across the three scenes.
Police have not publicly named the man arrested in Melmoth.
The same Murder and Robbery Unit is also investigating a separate mass shooting in the Ziko area of KwaMakhutha, south of Durban, on Tuesday night, 22 September 2026. Police said 13 men and one woman, believed to have been pregnant, were at a house when three men arrived and opened fire. Ten people, including the woman, died at the scene. Four others were taken to hospital. One of those later died, bringing the death toll to 11. Three people were injured.
Acting National Police Commissioner Lieutenant-General Puleng Dimpane directed KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi to activate a 72-hour tracking operation for the KwaMakhutha suspects. Police said some of the victims were known to Crime Intelligence in connection with alleged illegal activities, but they declined to give further detail so as not to compromise the investigation. The motive has not been confirmed. Police said a feud between rival groupings could not be ruled out. Detectives said they were following several leads.
Anyone with information on either investigation is asked to contact Crime Stop anonymously on 08600 10111 or the nearest police station.
- Sydenham massacre suspect arrested in Melmoth after nearly five years
- Malawian national detained in Blackheath during immigration checks, circulating footage shows him pointing out others
- Zimbabwe frees 4,305 inmates under presidential amnesty as prisons exceed capacity
- Mi7 reaction officers apprehend alleged burglar in Boughton after two incidents on same day
- PepsiCo Discontinues ProNutro in South Africa After 64 Years
