Police in Cape Town are investigating an alleged extortion incident after a 31-year-old man in the Marikana Informal Settlement in Philippi East was shot multiple times after he allegedly paid an amount of R8 000 to his killers.

The incident comes as police are still probing the killing of five people in the Better Life settlement. They were gunned down and set alight by unknown assailants while sitting in a car on Friday evening.

The victims are aged between 20 and 30 and are yet to be identified. Police are on a man-hunt for suspects in both cases.

“Philippi East police registered a murder case. According to our reports on Sunday morning the 9th of February at about 2 o’clock, members of the Philippi East police received a complaint of a deceased person at a hospital in Mitchells Plain. When members arrived at the hospital, they were shown the body of a 31-year-old male. The deceased had multiple gunshot wounds to his body. The suspects are unknown at this stage,” says Captain FC van Wyk, the police spokesperson.

But for some of the community members not enough is being done to stamp out crime.

“We are scared to walk in the streets because there is a lot of crime here in Lower. Because I stay here in Lower block 9, if you see the people you just check who is there if you do not know them change your way because a lot of people they are robbing us here,” says Munawe Munawe, a Philippi East resident.

“I feel like there is way too much crime in our societies and yes there are enough police and the police are trying to do their job. But there just isn’t enough done by us as community members to actually aid and assist the police. Because the police actually stop crime they are there to enforce the law. Therefore if we do nothing to assist police are just useless,” says Simbongile Nkolontsi, Gentlemen Hibination centre.