Mere hours before his matric results were released, teenager Wakeel Dreyer was shot 17 times in Mitchell’s Plain. The 18-year-old was declared dead at the scene.
Dreyer was at a tuck shop on Thursday afternoon when a group of men in a vehicle pulled up and began firing guns. A murder case is under investigation.
Warrant Officer Joseph Swartbooi, Western Cape police spokesperson, said the police found the boy’s body just after 4pm.
“The unknown suspects fled the scene and are yet to be arrested. The motive for the attack is yet to be determined,” added Swartbooi.
Dreyer’s mother, Lucinda Roberts, spoke to News24 about the murder of her only child, who was due to receive his matric results at Beacon Hill High School on Friday.
“When I got the news that he was killed, I immediately went to the scene and saw that his body was covered already. I then said, ‘No, that is not my son,’ in the hope that he would walk out of the shop,” she explained.
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“But then they lifted the sheet from his face, and I just burst out crying and screaming. How is this even possible? My son, my beautiful boy, is gone from this world so soon.”
Roberts believes her son was in the wrong place at the wrong time and has no answers as to why he was killed so cruelly.
“They took my only child away; we had a whole day planned together for the release of the results because it would’ve also been his valedictory today at school.”
Dreyer’s ability to make people smile is how he will be remembered, Roberts said, while speaking about how the neighbours loved her well-mannered child.
“We had a typical mother and son bond, and all he wanted to do was succeed in life so that we could live happily. He would tell me every day he loves me, and now I won’t hear those words ever again.”
Warda Cay, a resident and community activist, believes that Dreyer was shot by gangsters. Cay feels the justice system will not do anything and that we live in a “lawless country”.
“Standing there, watching and feeling a mother’s pain as she stares at her son lying on the ground is the most horrible thing to witness. Our kids get murdered [everyday], and it’s just another number added.”
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Dora Jansen, a close friend of Dreyer’s, echoed the fact that he was a loving person with an ability to make people laugh.
“I am going to miss him so much; we were working on our relationship because, like every couple, we had our ups and downs, and just when we decided we were going to give our relationship another chance, this happened.”
Jansen heard the news via Facebook, but felt she could not visit the scene of his death.
“I don’t want to remember him like that, lying on the floor in front of the shop… I just couldn’t bring myself to go there. How do you say goodbye to someone you’ve known for such a long time? How am I supposed to go on without the man I love so much.”
Preparations for Wakeel’s funeral are under way, and in the meantime, a memorial service will be held in the area on Monday.
Police urge anyone who has information about the incident to contact Crime Stop at 08600 10111.
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Picture: News24