South African police Sunday hunted the perpetrators of two separate shootings that killed 27 people within hours, highlighting the country’s persistent gun violence problem.
The motives for the shootings near Johannesburg and Cape Town were unknown, but gang violence and organized crime remain rife in South Africa, despite government efforts to curb one of the highest per capita murder rates in the world.
In Wedela township, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) from Johannesburg, 17 people died and 15 suffered injuries at a tavern when suspects armed with AK-47s opened fire about 9:30 p.m. Saturday, police said.
Many residents were reluctant to speak about the incident, but one said illegal miners, known locally as zama zamas – an isiZulu expression for “taking a chance” – live in the area, a gold mining region experts call a hotspot for gun crime.
Soldiers and police pathologists arrived in the township, and saw two burned vehicles. The tavern at the shooting site featured a sign reading “No weapons allowed” below its trading hours.
In Lwandle, on the outskirts of Cape Town, onlookers gathered behind police lines at the shooting scene but did not want to speak to journalists, fearing for their safety. There, gunmen opened fire about 2 a.m. Sunday in a venue selling grilled meat, killing 10 people and injuring 11.
Police have made no arrests, and detectives are searching for the gunmen, police said.
“South Africa has a serious illegal firearms problem, and firearms are frequently used by organized criminal groups and in gang-related and other violent crimes,” crime expert Yusuf Abramjee said.
“Every mass shooting therefore should trigger more than an investigation into immediate perpetrators,” he told Reuters. “Authorities must examine wider networks behind the violence.”
Crime is expected to be a major voter issue in November’s municipal elections, where the African National Congress faces further erosion of voter support.
President Cyril Ramaphosa said earlier this year that organized crime has become the biggest threat to South Africa’s democracy and deployed the army to help police in some areas.
A shooting at a house party near Durban Tuesday night killed 11, while a series of women’s bodies found near Johannesburg since July has renewed fear and anger over high femicide rates.
