Death toll in tavern-related shootings rises to 24 in less than a month after two people killed near Pretoria

23 July 2022 - 16:02 By TImesLIVE
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Police say they are on the trail of the suspects behind the Mdlalose’s Tavern shooting which left 16 people dead last week.
Police say they are on the trail of the suspects behind the Mdlalose’s Tavern shooting which left 16 people dead last week.
Image: Thulani Mbele

Barely two days after family members buried 13 of 16 victims of a tavern shooting in Soweto, two more people were killed in a similar incident on Friday, this time in Ga-Rankuwa, northwest of Pretoria.

With the 13 KwaZulu-Natal victims barely in the soil, two more SA families will now be forced to give family members a final farewell. Their names had not been released at the time of publication.

This time, the dead were allegedly victims of a drive-by shooting. According to police spokesperson Col Dimakatso Sello, seven others were wounded in the incident, which happened about 11pm.

“Unknown suspects driving a silver Volkswagen Polo reportedly fired shots randomly at patrons who were sitting outside at a tavern in Ga-Rankuwa,” Sello said. “The motive of the shooting is unknown and police will be investigating two cases of murder and seven of attempted murder.”

When asked if the police have an official tally for those killed in tavern-related shootings so far this year, Sello said the crime statistics for this quarter had not yet been released.

He urged anyone with information about the incident or the suspects to report it at the nearest police station or call the Crime Stop Hotline at 08600 10111.

“All information received will be treated as strictly confidential.”

SA has recently been struck by a wave of tavern killings, with 22 people killed over one July weekend, just weeks after 21 children died from unnatural causes in East London’s Enyobeni Tavern.

On July 8 two customers at Mputlane's Inn in Katlehong, southeast of Johannesburg, were shot dead; 16 people were killed in Mdlalose's Tavern in the Nomzano informal settlement in Soweto’s Orlando East when unknown gunmen opened fired on partygoers during the early hours of July 11; and four people were shot dead in Mntambo Tavern near Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal.

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