'You will die because your father loves money'

A distraught mother has told of her two young children's last moments. She heard the killer telling the sisters aged four and seven they would die because their father loved money.

Moments later they screamed and went silent after three gunshots went off.

The words of siblings Tinyiko and Mpfumo Mashaba's killer, who is known to their mother Itumeleng, keep ringing in her head.

"Where is your father? Where is Louis? You will die because your father loves money'," Itumeleng recalls hearing the killer say as she stood a short distance away from their shack in Changing Spot Informal Settlement in Soshanguve, north of Pretoria. A short while later, three gunshots went off.

Gauteng police spokesperson, Lt-Col Mavela Masondo, said: "Preliminary investigation suggests the suspects were after the father of the girls, who was not at home during the incident."

Masondo said no arrests had been made.

Mashaba, 33, said she and her partner Louis had gone out for a short period, leaving their small children in the shack.

She said after returning home, they heard someone open one of their two gates. The father said he would go check who was there.

“He (attacker) kicked the gate and as I stood there I heard him kicking the door. Then I heard him asking the kids where 'are your parents' and asking where is Louis and then the older one responded that 'my mom is not around'. She said I'll be coming back shortly.

"I was listening because I was at the back [of the shack]. He then told them that you are going to die because your father loves money. I then heard gunshots,” said Mashaba.

“I think he heard the [other] gate open and saw us. He came towards the gate where I was. I ran as he chased after me.

"He managed to catch me but I slipped away and he said it would not end well. I was about four streets away from my home when I saw the smoke and I knew that my kids were gone.

"My boyfriend also managed to escape and I think he was shocked because he had just heard that his friend was shot earlier on, by the same guy [who killed our children],” Mashaba said, as she wiped tears from her face.

She said she then started getting messages from her neighbours, telling her about the fire and she knew she had definitely lost her children.

Mashaba said she spent 14 minutes standing and just watched as her shack went up in flames.

“I found my older child hugging her teddy bear with a bullet in her stomach and the younger one just beneath the bed as if she wanted to hide under it,” she recalled.

Mashaba had spent Sunday with Tinyiko, who aspired to be a police officer, while Mpfumo, who had started showing potential in fashion design, spent her day with friends.

Mashaba said her partner Louis was a member of a crime-fighting forum in the area but claimed he left (the forum) three months ago.

She claimed the forum had been hijacked by other community members who were allegedly extorting money from residents and shop owners in the area.

Mashaba said the group goes around demanding R300 payments – R250 for water and electricity and R50 for security.

The informal settlement is illegally connected to water and electricity infrastructure.

Electricity wires criss-cross above shacks and snake around on the ground, posing danger to residents.

A neighbour, who asked not to be named, described the perpetrator as "a heartless man".

"I heard him call out for Louis and then heard the kids scream and then the gunshots went off; there was total silence [afterward],” the neighbour said.

A distraught mother has told of her two young children's last moments. She heard the killer telling the sisters aged four and seven they would die because their father loved money.

Moments later they screamed and went silent after three gunshots went off.

The words of siblings Tinyiko and Mpfumo Mashaba's killer, who is known to their mother Itumeleng, keep ringing in her head.

"Where is your father? Where is Louis? You will die because your father loves money'," Itumeleng recalls hearing the killer say as she stood a short distance away from their shack in Changing Spot Informal Settlement in Soshanguve, north of Pretoria. A short while later, three gunshots went off.

Gauteng police spokesperson, Lt-Col Mavela Masondo, said: "Preliminary investigation suggests the suspects were after the father of the girls, who was not at home during the incident."

Masondo said no arrests had been made.

Mashaba, 33, said she and her partner Louis had gone out for a short period, leaving their small children in the shack.

She said after returning home, they heard someone open one of their two gates. The father said he would go check who was there.