Two mass shootings near South Africa’s biggest cities have left at least 27 people dead, police said on Sunday. The incidents, one in the Johannesburg suburb of Wedela and another in the Cape Town area of Lwandle, highlight the country’s struggle with high violent crime.
The first attack occurred Saturday night when eight suspects armed with AK‑47 assault rifles and pistols opened fire on a bar in Wedela township, about 50 miles southwest of Johannesburg. Seventeen people were killed and at least fifteen others were injured. Police said the gunmen entered the tavern after shooting patrons outside, seized cellphones and fled in two unidentified vehicles, one of which was set on fire. No arrests have been made and a manhunt is underway. Police commissioner Tommy Mthombeni suggested the shooting could be linked to a turf war involving illegal mining gangs known as zama zamas, and that it might have been retaliation for a similar incident at the tavern a month earlier.
The second incident took place at a shisanyama (grilled‑meat) venue in Lwandle, near Cape Town, around 1.46 a.m. A group of gunmen entered the establishment and opened fire on customers. Ten people were killed, including five who died on the scene and five who later died from injuries, and eleven others were wounded. Western Cape police have set up a team of serious violent‑crime detectives to investigate, and a search for the perpetrators is ongoing. Police officials cited possible business jealousy over cheaper alcohol sales as a motive.
These shootings come days after a house‑party shooting near Durban that killed eleven people, and follow a series of high‑profile murders that have raised public anger. President Cyril Ramaphosa called the violence unacceptable and pledged that security forces would intensify efforts to curb criminality. South Africa recorded a murder rate of nearly 40 per 100,000 people in 2024, the ninth‑highest worldwide, with over 22,700 murders reported in the first six months of the year. The country is also under scrutiny for alleged corruption within the police, as highlighted by the Madlanga commission hearings.
