South Africa shootings near Johannesburg and Cape Town kill 27

Two shootings near Johannesburg and Cape Town killed 27 people and wounded 26 others over the weekend, South African police said. The attacks, hours apart in Wedela and Lwandle, left investigators searching for suspects on Sunday. Police had not established a motive for either shooting, leaving families and communities waiting for answers about who carried out the attacks and why.

Seventeen people died and at least 15 were injured when gunmen attacked a tavern in Wedela, southwest of Johannesburg, on Saturday evening, 26 September. Early on Sunday, 10 people were killed and 11 injured at an entertainment venue in Lwandle, near Cape Town. Police had announced no arrests in either case in the reports published on 27 September.

Gunmen opened fire inside and outside Wedela tavern

Gauteng police said eight armed suspects arrived while patrons were drinking inside and outside the Wedela tavern. They fired at people outside, then went into the building and continued shooting, according to the police account quoted by The Guardian. The attack killed 13 men and four women. At least 15 other people sustained gunshot injuries.

Police said the suspects reportedly carried AK-47 rifles and pistols. They allegedly searched some patrons, took their cellphones and fled in two unidentified vehicles. Two other vehicles were set alight during the attack. Those details describe what police said witnesses and investigators had established by Sunday; they do not, on their own, establish why the gunmen attacked the tavern.

Ten killed in separate Lwandle attack

The second shooting happened at a venue selling grilled meat in Lwandle, near Cape Town, in the early hours of Sunday. Western Cape police said five people died at the scene and another five died after being taken to medical facilities. Eleven others were receiving treatment for their injuries. Police were seeking multiple suspects, according to The Guardian.

Western Cape police assigned detectives specialising in serious violent crime to the case. The Guardian reported that police planned to release the names of those killed after their next of kin had been informed. The available police accounts do not establish a link between the Lwandle shooting and the attack in Wedela.

Possible motives remain lines of inquiry

Gauteng police commissioner Tommy Mthombeni told reporters that a turf dispute involving illegal mining was one line of inquiry in Wedela. He also said the shooting could have been retaliation for an attack at the same tavern about a month earlier. Neither possibility had been established as the motive. The reported theft of cellphones is another detail investigators must weigh, but it does not settle the question.

Khumalo said police suspected a retaliatory gang attack and that one victim had previously come to the attention of police intelligence over an earlier incident. That was his account of police suspicions, not a finding about the victim or proof of who ordered the shooting. Police had not announced arrests in Wedela by Sunday.

For Lwandle, The Guardian quoted a police official raising business jealousy as a possible issue. The official referred to reports that customers had bought cheaper alcohol elsewhere and brought it to the venue. That account was presented as a possibility, and police had not confirmed it as an explanation for the attack.

Another deadly week of shootings

The two attacks followed a shooting days earlier at a house party near Durban that killed 11 people, including a pregnant woman. The Guardian and BBC reported that attack as recent context for the violence. Their accounts do not establish that the Durban, Wedela and Lwandle shootings were connected.

South Africa has faced persistently high levels of violent crime. The Guardian, citing police data, reported more than 22,700 murders nationwide in the 12 months to 30 June. That national figure provides context for the pressure on investigators and public officials; it is separate from the casualty count in this weekend's attacks.

President Cyril Ramaphosa told local television news channels that the level of criminality had to be brought down and that security forces would continue their efforts, The Guardian reported. For now, the immediate questions in Wedela and Lwandle are who carried out each attack and what evidence investigators can establish about their motives. Police accounts published on Sunday left both questions open.