In a chilling overnight raid on the edge of Johannesburg, gunmen swept through an informal settlement and killed 12 people, South African police said.
Police said the shooting erupted before midnight in a poor community of metal shacks where illegal miners had been living.
About 10 attackers were driven to the Jumpers settlement and dropped off, according to a police spokeswoman.
“The suspects allegedly entered the informal settlement through both entrances and moved through the area, opening fire on residents and community members at multiple locations before fleeing the scene in the same vehicle,” she said.
“Preliminary investigations reveal that 12 people died as a result of the attack,” Colonel Dimakatso Nevhuhulwi said.
“Eight adult males and three adult females were declared dead at the scene,” she said. One person died in hospital.
The attack took place roughly 6km east of Johannesburg’s city centre, close to an abandoned gold mine.
South Africa has widespread access to both legal and illegal firearms, and shootings are frequent, often driven by gang feuds and competition among informal businesses.
Police said they had not yet established a motive and had made no arrests, but investigators suspected the killings may be connected to rivalries over illegal mining in the area.
Gunmen were ‘barbaric, heartless’, says Lieutenant General Tommy Mthombeni
“At this stage, we could not determine what is the motive,” provincial commissioner Lieutenant General Tommy Mthombeni told reporters at the scene.
“As you know, this area is adjacent to the illegal mining area. We are having those suspicions.”
“One can term this incident to be insane, to be heartless and to an extent, it is barbaric,” he said.
Illegal mining in South Africa attracts people from across southern Africa and has been associated with organised crime, assassinations, extortion and other unlawful activity.
Clandestine artisanal miners have become a deeply rooted feature of the shantytowns surrounding Johannesburg and its satellite communities along the gold reef.
Pushed by poverty and joblessness, the zama zamas – meaning “those who try” in Zulu – descend into still gold-bearing shafts abandoned by mining companies.
In December, a mass shooting tied to rivalry between illegal mining gangs left nine people dead after gunmen opened fire at a bar in the impoverished Bekkersdal township southwest of Johannesburg, also in a gold-mining area.
In March, soldiers were deployed to violence hotspots in Johannesburg to bolster police efforts against widespread crime, which President Cyril Ramaphosa has described as one of the biggest threats facing the country.
