8 people armed with AK-47 broke into a pub, 27 people fell to the gunfire overnight, and lives are being lost at the rate of 59 people every day | International Morning Watch

This past weekend, two mass shootings hundreds of kilometers apart put South Africa at the center of world public opinion.

Within hours, two attacks occurred. When the gunfire stopped, 27 innocent lives were frozen overnight.

The gunman broke into the pub with an AK-47. The two attacks were only 4 hours apart.

At 21:30 on September 26, South Africa time, a pub in Wedra Town, West Rand Region, Gauteng Province, South Africa. Gunmen armed with AK-47s and other weapons first opened fire outside the door, then pushed the door in and continued shooting.

Search customers, steal cellphones, set cars on fire, and flee in cars.

17 people died - 13 men and 4 women. 15 people were injured.

A few hours later, hundreds of kilometers away. At 1:46 a.m. on September 27, an entertainment venue that also operates a barbecue in Lwandel Town, Strand District, Western Cape Province. A group of gunmen broke in and opened fire.

Five people died on the spot, five died in hospital, and 11 were injured.

If we add in the bloody attack in Durban on September 22, in which a pregnant woman was among the dead, 48 lives were wiped out within three days.

An arithmetic problem explains security in South Africa

According to South Africa’s official crime statistics:

Between January and March 2026, a total of 5,181 people were murdered in South Africa;

A total of 5,427 people were murdered between April and June.

You can do a very simple arithmetic problem:

(5181+5427) people ➗181 days ≈58.61 people/day

In other words, since the first half of 2026, an average of close to 59 people have died of murder every day in South Africa.

what does that mean? The 27 people who died last weekend were not even half of the country's daily murder rate.

In other words, even without this overnight 'outbreak', South Africa was losing lives at an alarming rate every day.

Behind the two attacks were territory, business and gang interests.

Two attacks occurred in Johannesburg. South African police currently suspect that they are turf wars between illegal mining gangs and have not ruled out the possibility of retaliation.

In the Western Cape case, the police investigation focused on "business jealousy". Some local consumers will go to places with lower prices to buy wine and then consume it here, which may cause conflicts of interest between different operators.

To put it bluntly, behind the two attacks was territory, business, and gang interests.

However, when the AK-47 fires in the pub, those who fall under the gun are often innocent ordinary people.

There is also a cruel fact - in most attacks, the perpetrators often go unpunished.

Even though South African President Cyril Ramaphosa vowed that "this situation cannot continue" and the police announced after the attack that "it will never be tolerated and will never be tolerated", the cold reality is that 27 people have lost their lives, and there is still no new progress in the case.

Author: Wang Xi