Gunmen killed at least 27 people in two mass shootings in South Africa‘s two main cities, Johannesburg and Cape Town, police said on Sunday, in the latest criminal violence to hit the country.
Eight gunmen armed with assault rifles and pistols stormed a bar southwest of Johannesburg at around 1930 GMT on Saturday, killing 17 people and wounding 15 others.
The dead included 13 males and four females.
The suspects opened fire on customers drinking outside and then moved inside to continue shooting, police said.
The shooting took place in Wedela, a semi-rural township of brick houses and small businesses, surrounded by wide expanses of land used for mining. The suspects torched two vehicles before fleeing.
Residents were reluctant to speak about the incident, but one said that illegal miners, known locally as zama zamas from an isiZulu expression for “taking a chance”, live in the area, where powerful gangs control the illicit gold mining trade.
The province’s police commissioner, Tommy Mthombeni, told reporters that one line of inquiry was that the shooting was a “turf war in terms of illegal mining”.
Saturday’s shooting could be retaliation for another at the same tavern about a month ago, he added.
The area has been a focus of a government crackdown on illegal mining, with soldiers deployed alongside police to tackle criminal networks operating around abandoned mine shafts.
The motive of the attack was unknown.
“The criminals think it’s a fashion. They want to make it something which we need to get used to, but that cannot be allowed and tolerated,” deputy provincial police commissioner Major General Fred Kekana said at the scene.
“We managed to get clear pictures of the suspects and we will get them,” he said.
One of the victims was being sought by police in connection with last month’s shooting at the same tavern, in which one person was killed and another wounded, Kekana said.
In a separate shooting at a barbecue venue in a township outside Cape Town early on Sunday, gunmen killed 10 people and wounded 11 more.
In video clips shared on social media, revellers can be seen dancing and drinking before a burst of gunfire rings out, sending people scrambling for cover.
Five of the victims were declared dead at the scene while the others died while being transported to hospital. Two of those killed were female, police said.
“A business jealousy might have been the issue,” a police officer said, adding that there were reports that people had been buying alcohol in cheaper places and going to the venue to drink.
No suspect has been arrested in either case, police said.
‘Pulling out all the stops’
The attacks come as South Africa continues to grapple with high levels of gun violence, often linked to gangs, organised crime and local business rivalries.
The country of about 62 million people records roughly 60 murders a day, among the highest rates globally.
President Cyril Ramaphosa on Sunday said security forces “are going to continue pulling out all stops” to put an end to criminality.
“The clear instruction to our security forces is that we must bring the levels of criminality and violence down,” he said.
“We cannot be a country where people just pick up guns and start shooting at people at random.”
Last week, gunmen stormed a house party in a township in South Africa’s eastern port city of Durban and killed 11 people, including a pregnant woman.
South Africa has repeatedly turned to the military to reinforce police efforts against violent crime.
In March, Ramaphosa deployed soldiers to violence hotspots in Johannesburg, describing rampant crime as one of the biggest threats facing the country.
Troops were also deployed to enforce strict Covid‑19 lockdowns in 2020 and during the deadly riots sparked by the jailing of ex‑president Jacob Zuma in 2021.
They were also sent into the streets in 2023 after a wave of truck burnings raised fears of wider unrest.
In 2019, around 1,300 soldiers were deployed to back up police in the gang-afflicted Cape Flats areas surrounding Cape Town.
Yet shootings and other violent crime remain a persistent threat.
In Johannesburg, 11 women have been killed in a single municipality in two months. The latest victim was found around midday on Sunday, police said.
A suspect has been taken into custody in connection with the killing of one of the victims, who was found semi-naked and stoned to death on Saturday. This brings to four the number of people arrested in connection with the series of murders.
The nine other victims were mostly in their 20s and 30s, with some found stripped of their clothes and showing signs of sexual assault.
Police have offered a 400,000 rand ($25,000) reward for information leading to the arrest of the killer or killers, while the Democratic Alliance, South Africa’s second-largest political party, has put up a further $31,000.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP and Reuters)
