Dozens dead in several S Africa shootings

CRIME-DRIVEN: The shootings are endemic to poorer poorest areas of the country, which has one of the highest gun death rates and where 60 people a day are murdered

• Staff writer, with AP and AFP

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The death toll in a mass shooting in a South African tavern has risen to 18 after one person died in the hospital, police said yesterday, announcing at least two of the dead were Lesotho nationals. The shooting west of Johannesburg on Saturday was part of a bloody weekend in the crime-weary country, with 10 people killed in another mass shooting in Cape Town on Sunday.

Eight gunmen armed with assault rifles stormed the bar in the semi-rural township of Wedela, around 80km from Johannesburg, killing 13 men and four women, police said.

“One more victim has died in hospital, bringing the total number of deceased to 18,” they said yesterday. “Only four of the deceased have been identified, two South Africans and two Lesotho nationals.”

Forensic officers and army personnel examine the scene of a mass shooting where suspects opened fire at a bar in Wedela township, near Johannesburg, South Africa, on Sunday.

Photo: AP

The motive for the attack was not clear, but the area is reportedly gripped by rivalry between criminal organizations involved in illegal gold mining. Thousands of unregistered miners operate in abandoned mining shafts in South Africa, many coming from across southern Africa, including the kingdom of Lesotho, which is encysted within South Africa.

The illegal mining has been linked to organized crime, assassinations and other illegal activities.

In other parts of the country, including Cape Town, gangs involved in selling illegal drugs or extortion rackets have been responsible for mass shootings.

The acting provincial commissioner said police were investigating a possible lead that the shooting was a revenge attack as one of the victims was connected to another shooting.

DIFFERING MOTIVES

South Africa is awash with legal and illegal firearms, and shootings are common, often fueled by gang rivalry, extortion and competition between informal businesses.

The country of around 62 million people has one of the world’s highest murder rates, with about 60 people killed each day.

At least 38 people were killed and at least 30 were wounded in the separate late-night shootings in impoverished townships near South Africa’s three biggest cities. Two of the massacres happened in the space of a few hours late Saturday night and in the predawn hours of Sunday.

South Africa’s mass shootings often differ from lone gunman mass shootings seen in the US and other countries. The shootings in South Africa are mostly connected to criminality, rather than ideological motive or personal grievance.

There is no standard global definition of mass shootings. In South Africa, police define a mass shooting as when three or more people are shot in a single attack.

All three mass shootings this week involved multiple gunmen, according to police.

Multiple suspects carried out another mass shooting hours later that killed 10 at a store connected to a nighttime entertainment venue in Lwandle township near the city of Cape Town, although police did not say exactly how many shooters there were. Three gunmen — at least one of whom used an AK-47-style rifle — killed 11 people after forcing their way into a house party in a township near Durban on Tuesday night.

Authorities say many of the mass shootings are linked to criminal gangs fighting turf wars or using violence to establish control over communities and areas.

Illegal mining gangs are notorious for terrorizing communities in the gold-mining areas near Johannesburg, where they are involved in the lucrative illicit gold trade.

HOMICIDE RATES

South Africa has some of the highest gun homicide rates in the world, but they mostly affect impoverished communities where police have struggled to contain the violence. After a mass shooting killed 12 people in a poor Johannesburg neighborhood in June, residents said they had long complained about gangs and illegal guns in the area to police.

Factors such as distance from police stations or a lack of lighting make poor townships vulnerable to violent crime, according to experts. Bystanders, including children, are often killed in the mass shootings.

Crime in South Africa mirrors its larger economic inequality. Affluent suburbs — sometimes just a few miles from townships — are well lit, often patrolled by armed private security personnel and have much lower violent crime rates.

South Africa reached a turning point in March when President Cyril Ramaphosa deployed soldiers on the streets in a yearlong operation to support police in the fight against violent crime committed by organized gangs. Ramaphosa said that crime was the biggest threat to South Africa’s democracy and economic development.

One of the specific focuses of the operation was the illegal mining gangs operating in and around Johannesburg.

While some poor communities welcomed the soldiers as long-needed security for their neighborhoods, critics of the government said using the army to fight crime was effectively an admission that the police had failed.