By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Eastern Cape police spokesperson Brigadier Thembinkosi Kinana has confirmed that the death toll in the Enyobeni tavern tragedy has risen to 21.
The victim died in hospital on Sunday.
Earlier Eastern Cape SAPS said seven of the confirmed dead were females and thirteen were males.
Brigadier Kinana said inquest dockets have been registered for further investigation.
Police minister Bheki Cele has deployed a top forensic and pathology team from Pretoria to investigate what led to the death of 21 people.
Addressing an angry crowd at Scenery Park, Cele said they also needed to find out from the owner why the venue only had one exit and entrance.
“At first, we were told that this was a stampede, but by the looks of things, there was no stampede that took place,” Cele said.
“I do not want to speculate on the cause of death; that’s why we brought the top forensic team so that if the cause of death was some poison, they will let us know.”
Local resident said he heard about the tragedy in the early hours of the morning when his relative’s mother phoned him.
Mfundo Watani says he rushed to the scene as his 15-year-old female relative was at the tavern to celebrate the end of exams.
He says according to her, the club was packed and at some point, someone sprayed pepper spray and chaos broke out.
Watani says she told him that people were running thinking there was a fight whilst others were choking and coughing.
He said she was the only person left standing and eventually called her mother after a security guard offered her a phone.
Watani said he had never seen anything like this in his life and that his loved one was severely traumatised.
Buffalo City Executive Mayor, Xola Pakati, said; “whilst the details of what exactly happened are still being investigated by the police, we find the occurrence disturbing and it is in fact the greatest tragedy that has ever happened in our Metro.”
“We call on law enforcement agencies to leave no stones unturned and ensure that those responsible are made to pay for this calamitous incident. What has happened can be equated to a massacre,” he said.