Melta’s Salon in Oliver Tambo Drive, Samora Machel. Picture: Supplied
Cape Town - A 37-year-old Mozambican woman who owned a salon in Samora Machel was allegedly gunned down by extortionists for failing to pay a “protection fee”.
Eyewitnesses said the men, who were driving a white Toyota Avanza, demanded to enter Melita Mangane’s salon at Oliver Tambo Drive and when she failed to open the locked security gate, they shot her from outside.
A close friend of Mangane, who asked not to be named, said a day before the men had visited the salon. They demanded money and warned her. When Mangane indicated to them that the business was not making a profit she said they instructed her to close down the salon. The close friend said the protection fee collectors would on many occasions visit her salon while she was there and she would at times pay for her friend.
She said the monthly payment was R500 and this was collected on the 25th of every month.
“In December the collectors took all the money that was in the salon and in February took a customer’s ring and a cellphone after she failed to pay the fees. These incidents were not reported to the police as this had been known as a tradition among business owners,” she said.
The day before Mangane was shot the friend said when she got to the salon the security gate was locked.
“When I asked why it was locked she said there were criminals loitering around, but I knew that it was the protection fee collectors. She later told me that she was instructed to collect her things and close down. However, because this was her bread and butter, she opened on Saturday, not knowing that this was her last time.
“She was renting the salon for her accommodation and had to feed her daughter and take her to school, so she could not afford to close down. At some point I suggested that she rather move the salon as I saw how this protection fee was traumatising her,” she said.
Mangane’s boyfriend, who also asked not to be named, said Melita was traumatised as every time they came the protection fee collectors would hit her on the head with the back of a gun when she failed to make a payment. The boyfriend warned of a brewing war between the foreign business owners and the extortionists as he alleged that police had failed them.
Police spokesperson Malcolm Potjie said Samora detectives were probing a murder case. Potjie said Mangane succumbed to a gunshot wound to the head and was later declared dead by paramedics on the scene.
He said the motive for the act was unknown and formed part of an ongoing investigation into the murder.
Anyone with information is encouraged to call the nearest police station or Crime Stop at 08600 10111.