Gunmen have robbed the parents of another South African international football star, Sibusiso Vilakazi, while he was sleeping at their Johannesburg home, in an attack he claims was targeted at him.
Police and the midfielder for the national team Bafana Bafana said the robbers held up his family at gunpoint at his parents’ house in Soweto township and stole an array of valuables.
The attack shortly after midnight on Saturday came just under a week after national football captain and goalkeeper Senzo Meyiwa was gunned down in what police said was a robbery that went “horribly wrong”.
The burglars stormed in and asked for Vilakazi by name while he slept in a backyard room.
“Those people knew what they wanted. They came looking for me,” the 24-year-old who captains local club Bidvest Wits, told local Eye Witness News.
The robbers also asked his parents to hand over his car keys before making off with cellphones, cash, a television set, his parents’ wedding rings and clothing.
“Everything happened when I was sleeping and I didn’t hear anything,” said Vilakazi. “Imagine if I woke up and went in what would have happened.”
Vilakazi’s teammate Meyiwa was shot dead while visiting his girlfriend last week in another suburb of Johannesburg, in a attack that shocked the crime-weary nation.
On Tuesday, Vilakazi was named in the 26-man Bafana Bafana squad that will host Sudan on November 15 in Durban before travelling to west Africa for a November 19 final-round clash with Nigeria.
Police spokesman Kay Makhubele told that a manhunt for three suspects has been launched.
