South Africa has witnessed two mass shootings within hours, leaving 27 people dead and 26 others injured. The attacks took place near Johannesburg and Cape Town as the country continues to struggle with gun violence and gang-related crime.
In Johannesburg, 17 people were killed after eight gunmen stormed a bar on Saturday evening. Another 15 people were injured in the attack.
According to police, the gunmen opened fire on customers outside the bar before continuing the attack inside. They also torched two vehicles before fleeing the area.
Police said 13 men and four women were killed in the Johannesburg shooting.
Gauteng Police Commissioner Lieutenant General Tommy Mthombeni said people from Ethiopia and Lesotho were among those caught up in the shooting, while the vast majority of the victims were South African.
Police have not yet confirmed the exact motive behind the attack. Mthombeni said robbery was one possible reason, as personal belongings had been taken from the victims. However, police could not rule out possible turf wars between illegal mining groups.
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Illegal mining remains a persistent problem in South Africa, especially in abandoned mine shafts and dump sites. Authorities have said that undocumented migrants are often recruited by organised crime gangs for such activities.
Deputy Provincial Police Commissioner Major General Fred Kekana earlier said the Johannesburg attack may have been a retaliation for an incident last month, in which one person was killed and another was injured.
Kekana said police had clear pictures and, in some cases, names of the suspects. However, no arrests had been made by Sunday morning.
In a separate shooting near Cape Town, 10 people were killed outside an entertainment venue in a township during the early hours of Sunday. Another 11 people were injured.
Five victims died at the scene, while another five died later in hospital. Police have not given a definitive motive for the Cape Town shooting either, and no arrests had been made in the case. The two shootings came only days after 11 people were killed in another attack in Durban, where gunmen stormed a house in the KwaMakhutha township.
South Africa has one of the highest murder rates in the world, with around 60 murders recorded every day in the country of around 62 million people.
Illegal weapons are widely present in the country, while gun violence has remained a persistent problem for decades. Recent mass shootings have often been linked to turf wars between gangs involved in drug trafficking and illegal mining.
In February, President Cyril Ramaphosa called organised crime “the most immediate threat to our democracy, our society and our economic development.”
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