Spate of mass shootings in South Africa leaves nearly 40 dead

Johannesburg — A spate of mass shootings in three major South African cities killed nearly 40 people this week, with such incidents increasingly common in a country already known for its high crime rates.

On Saturday night, South African police said at least 10 people were killed at a shisanyama — a common kind of local restaurant selling barbecued meat — near Cape Town, while eleven others were injured.

The same night, near the commercial capital Johannesburg, 17 people were killed when a group of men with AK-47s burst into a township tavern where people were drinking.

The perpetrators "allegedly searched some patrons and took their cellphones before fleeing the scene in two unidentified motor vehicles. Two vehicles were also set alight during the incident," police said in a statement.

Police have not indicated a motive for either of the latest attacks.

Earlier in the week, another mass shooting occurred in the coastal city of Durban. Police said 11 people, including a pregnant woman, were killed on Tuesday by multiple gunmen in an attack on a house party.

A motive for that crime was also unclear, but several people at the house were known to authorities as part of investigations into criminal activity.

Illegal guns are common in South Africa, where mass shooting events are usually linked to gangs and organized crime, sometimes surrounding activities involving illegal gold miners known as "zama-zamas."

In June, in another mass shooting, 12 people were killed when gunmen stormed an informal settlement in Johannesburg, where people live in tin shacks without access to running water and electricity. That shooting was blamed on turf wars between zama-zamas.

At the scene, NPR saw pools of blood under a snooker table in a makeshift bar roped off with police tape and traumatized residents described their fear when they heard the gunshots.

"I hid under my bed," said Angela Mopayi, 54, at the time, "I couldn't breathe, I couldn't do anything, I thought I was dying."

South Africa has one of the world's highest murder rates, averaging 60 a day. But even so, the number of mass shootings has become a national crisis.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has called organised crime "the most immediate threat to our democracy, our society and our economic development," and deployed the army in some of the worst-affected areas.

President Trump has also been vocal about crime in South Africa since returning to office, but he has focused on the murders of white people on farms. While these do occur, official statistics show the vast majority of victims of crime are poor Black people.

And they are often also women. This month South Africans have been protesting amid a spate of brutal femicides in Johannesburg. On Saturday a tenth woman's body was discovered, despite police promises to crack down on gender-based violence.

South Africans head to the polls in November for local elections in which crime is expected to be a key issue.