Gunmen Kill 27 in Two South African Mass Shootings, Capping a Week That Left Nearly 40 Dead
Gunmen with AK-47s killed 17 at a tavern southwest of Johannesburg on Saturday; hours later, 10 died at a restaurant outside Cape Town. Nearly 40 people have been killed in mass shootings this week.
At least 27 people were killed in two mass shootings near South Africa's two largest cities over the weekend, police said Sunday, capping a week in which gunmen killed nearly 40 people in three separate attacks across the country.
The first attack came Saturday night at a township tavern in Wedela, southwest of Johannesburg. Police said about eight gunmen armed with AK-47 rifles and pistols first opened fire on customers drinking outside, then moved into the building and kept shooting. Seventeen people were killed, 13 men and four women, and 15 others were wounded. The attackers "allegedly searched some patrons and took their cellphones before fleeing the scene in two unidentified motor vehicles," police said in a statement, adding that two vehicles were set alight during the attack.
Hours later, gunmen opened fire at a shisanyama, a type of local restaurant that sells barbecued meat, in Lwandle, a township outside Cape Town. Ten people were killed and 11 wounded. Five of the victims died at the scene and the others died on the way to hospital. Police have not given a motive for either attack, and no arrests have been announced.
The weekend killings followed another massacre on Tuesday in the coastal city of Durban, where police said multiple gunmen killed 11 people, including a pregnant woman, at a house party. The motive for that attack was also unclear, though police said several people at the house were known to authorities through criminal investigations. In June, 12 people were killed when gunmen stormed an informal settlement of tin shacks in Johannesburg, a shooting blamed on turf wars between "zama-zamas," the illegal gold miners whose rivalries have fueled a number of mass killings.
South Africa, a country of about 62 million people, records roughly 60 murders a day, one of the highest rates in the world, and is awash with legal and illegal firearms. Mass shootings are usually linked to gangs, organized crime and competition among informal businesses. President Cyril Ramaphosa has called organized crime "the most immediate threat to our democracy, our society and our economic development." In March, soldiers moved into violence hotspots in Johannesburg to support police. The government has repeatedly turned to the army in a crisis, deploying troops to enforce COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020, during the deadly riots that followed former President Jacob Zuma's jailing in 2021, and again in 2023 after a wave of truck burnings.
The violence has also become a political issue abroad. President Trump has spoken often about crime in South Africa since returning to office, focusing on the killings of white farmers, although official statistics show that the vast majority of crime victims in the country are poor and Black. At home, South Africans have been protesting this month over a string of brutal killings of women in Johannesburg; on Saturday, a tenth woman's body was found despite police promises of a crackdown.
The shootings land weeks before South Africans vote in local elections in November, in which crime is expected to be a central issue. The two weekend attacks, carried out by groups of armed men in crowded public venues, will test whether police can quickly track down the gunmen.
