South African police were on Sunday hunting the perpetrators of two separate shootings that killed 27 people within hours of each other, highlighting the country’s gun violence problem.
“This cannot go on like this,” President Cyril Ramaphosa said of the incidents, which came only days after another shooting killed 11 people at a house party near Durban.
Authorities were still working to establish the motives for the shootings near Johannesburg and Cape Town, but initial investigations suggested one could be a turf war between illegal miners and the other a business rivalry.
“This is the level of criminality that we must bring down, and our security forces are now going to continue pulling out all stops,” Ramaphosa told local media channels.
Violent crime is rife in South Africa, despite efforts to curb one of the world’s highest per-capita murder rates.
In Wedela township, about 80 km (50 miles) from Johannesburg, 17 people were killed and 15 injured at a tavern when suspects armed with AK-47 rifles opened fire at around 9:30 p.m. (1930 GMT) on Saturday, police said.
Ramaphosa said police had images of the suspects in that incident and were working to track them down.
SHOOTING COULD BE RETALIATION
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.
Soldiers and police pathologists had arrived in the township, where there were two burnt vehicles and the tavern where the shooting took place had a sign saying “No weapons allowed”.
THREAT TO DEMOCRACY
At the scene of the shooting in Lwandle on the outskirts of Cape Town, onlookers gathered behind police lines but did not want to speak to journalists, saying they feared for their safety.
In that incident, gunmen opened fire in a venue selling grilled meat at around 2:00 a.m. on Sunday, killing 10 people and injuring 11.
An eyewitness video from the venue shows people dancing and singing in a crowded outdoor area when a burst of shots rings out and screams are heard.
A police official said, “A business jealousy might have been the issue,” as there were reports that people had been buying alcohol in cheaper places and going to the venue to drink.
No arrests have been made yet and detectives are working to find the gunmen, police said in statements.
Crime is expected to be a major issue for voters in municipal elections in November, when the African National Congress is facing further erosion of voter support. Fear and anger over high rates of femicide have risen after the discovery of women’s bodies near Johannesburg since July.
Ramaphosa said earlier this year that organised crime had become the biggest threat to South Africa’s democracy, and deployed the army to help police in some areas.
“South Africa has a serious illegal firearms problem, and firearms are frequently used by organised criminal groups as well as in gang-related and other violent crimes,” crime expert Yusuf Abramjee told Reuters.
“Authorities need to look at the wider networks behind the violence,” he added.
