Two shootings occurred in two towns in South Africa, yet 500 kilometers apart, in the evening and night from Saturday to Sunday. In Soweto, near Johannesburg, fifteen people, including two women, were killed by the attackers, who opened fire on the crowd “who was having fun”while in Pietermaritzburg, in the Zulu region in the east of the country, four people were killed by two men who fired randomly at the customers seated.
The police were called in the night, around half past midnight, in Soweto, the largest historic township in Johannesburg, in the south-west of the South African economic capital. “When we arrived there, twelve people were dead, with gunshot wounds”told Agence France-Presse Nonhlanhla Kubheka, commander of the Orlando police station, the district of Soweto where the tragedy took place.
A dozen injured were taken to hospital and three of them died there shortly following their arrival, she said early in the morning. The victims are young, aged between 19 and 35.
Investigations open, no arrests yet
No details were available regarding the attackers. “They arrived and shot people who were having fun”describes Mme It looks. “According to witnesses, they fired at random” before leaving in a white van, confirmed Elias Mawela, the regional police chief.
The police did not make any arrests, but an investigation was opened. A forensic science team was still on site at midday to collect all possible clues.
Hundreds of people from the neighborhood were massed behind the cordons of the judicial police. The bodies were taken away. In front of the establishment, only a small sign announcing the prices of beer was visible. Crying relatives tried to approach but were picked up by the police.
Frequent shootings
In the township of Sweetwaters, near Pietermaritzburg, the shooting broke out around 8:30 p.m. in a bar and left four dead and eight injured, local police spokesman Nqobile Gwala confirmed. “A group of people were having drinks in a tavern and a car parked in front [l’établissement] “, explained the lieutenant-colonel in a press release. “Two men jumped out of the car, entered the bar and opened fire indiscriminately on the customers”he added.
Twelve people were affected; two died on the spot, followed by two other victims in the hospital, detailed Mr. Gwala. The other eight remain hospitalized. Those killed are between 30 and 45 years old; an investigation was also opened.
According to the mayor, Mzimkhulu Thebola, everything happened very quickly. No theft, no talking or fighting. “Every week we learn that people have been shot at random”, commented the elected official, dressed in a jacket in the colors of the ANC, the historic party in power in South Africa. The bar, regarding twenty kilometers from the center of Pietermaritzburg, is located in a semi-rural area, near a car wash and a liquor store.
These facts come a year following the worst violence experienced by the country since the end of apartheid and the advent of democracy. Triggered initially by the imprisonment of former President Jacob Zuma, convicted of contempt of court and prosecuted for serious acts of corruption, these uprisings took place in a tense social and economic climate.
In July 2021, these riots, massive looting and destruction of industrial sites, mainly in Johannesburg and in the province of Kwazulu-Natal, in the east of the country, had killed more than 350 people.
