Ugandan man killed in South Africa

Mar 11, 2015

A Ugandan national working in South Africa was on Tuesday morning stabbed to death in the country’s largest city, Johannesburg.


By Taddeo Bwambale

A Ugandan national working in South Africa was on Tuesday morning stabbed to death in the country’s largest city, Johannesburg.

Joe Richard Senyange, 31, was reportedly killed on his way to work by two fellow Ugandans following a dispute over business deals.

South African Police had by Wednesday not yet released a statement on the crime, but sources said one suspect was arrested shortly after the incident.  

Fred Ssenyonga, an eye witness who was with Senyange at the time of the attack said they were waylaid by two Ugandan men he identified as Victor and Kizito.

Ssenyonge narrated that he was forced to flee after suspecting the two were about to harm them. The attackers pounced on Senyange and stabbed him multiple times.

Sennyonga revealed that the attackers have had a long-standing dispute with the deceased over a string of business deals. The attackers had reportedly warned that they would harm him.

Senyange was killed in a suburb commonly known as ‘Wonderers’ where many Ugandans are said to reside. Sources said Victor, a key suspect, was arrested as he prepared to flee the country.

Vigil in memory of the deceased was held at the home of a Ugandan named Muhammed Sendagire, and preparations are underway to have his body flown to Uganda for burial.

According to his passport details, Senyange was born on November 28, 1984 and was a resident of Nsambya in Uganda.

Robert Lubega Senninde, the uncle of the deceased and trader at Nabugabo Road in Kampala said Senyange first worked in Iraq in 2009 before moving to South Africa.

He returned and took his wife, Getrude Namirimu to live with him in Johannesburg. Last year, the couple returned to Uganda.

During their short stay, they rented an apartment in Makindye, a Kampala suburb and had kept in touch with their relatives.

The deceased is survived by an eight-year-old daughter, Noereen Nabukeera, who is living in Uganda with the couple’s relatives.

Senninde appealed to government to help the family in arrangements to fly Senyange’s body home. Senyange will be buried at his ancestral home in Kyabazaala in Kayunga district.

Senyange’s death sparked furor on social media, with many Ugandans condemning the crime, on account that such acts destroy the image of Ugandans in the diaspora.

 

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