In this file photo dated May 5, 2022, members of a community patrol try to force their way into a house where drugs are allegedly sold in Pimville, Soweto. Daily community patrols have increased their presence in the area in the recent months due to rising crime, mostly drug related, in the community.
(GUILLEM SARTORIO / AFP)
JOHANNESBURG – Gunmen killed 19 people in two apparently random shootings within hours of each other at taverns in South Africa, police said on Sunday, reinforcing the country's bleak status as a global centre for murder.
South Africa, home to about 60 million people, is one of the world's most violent countries with 20,000 people murdered every year, one of the highest per-capita murder rates globally
Attackers armed with rifles and pistols opened fire in the Orlando East bar in the township of Soweto in the early hours of Sunday, killing 15 people and wounding nine, police said.
Police confirmed a second apparently random shooting hours earlier, at around 8:30 pm on Saturday, in a tavern in Pietermaritzburg, 500 km southeast of Soweto, which saw four people killed and eight wounded.
ALSO READ:S.Africa repeals COVID rules on mask-wearing, gatherings, entry
Officers said they did not believe the two shootings were linked. The killers from both incidents are on the run, according to police, who said it was not clear how many attackers were involved in either shooting.
South Africa, home to about 60 million people, is one of the world's most violent countries with 20,000 people murdered every year, one of the highest per-capita murder rates globally.
There are about 3 million guns registered in the country, according to campaign group Gun Free South Africa, though many more are thought to be circulating on the black market.
At the scene of the shooting in Soweto, on the outskirts of Johannesburg, crowds gathered around the police cordon while officers combed the area for clues – one carrying zip-locked bags full of spent bullet cartridges.
Soweto is the largest of the country's Black townships. They were the creations of white minority rule, which ended in 1994 but whose legacy of widespread poverty, youth unemployment and violence persists nearly three decades later.
ALSO READ: Ryanair drops Afrikaans test after backlash in South Africa
Gauteng police commissioner Mawela told Reuters that there had been a third shooting during a suspected robbery in a tavern in Katlehong, also outside Johannesburg, on Thursday night, which killed two people and wounded two others.