More than 10 attackers emerged from a minibus and roamed through a disadvantaged community in South Africa’s largest city, firing at residents in a late-night assault that resulted in the deaths of at least 12 individuals and left nine others injured, as per police reports on Wednesday. The incident, resembling the work of organized crime factions competing for authority over illicit mining or other ventures, occurred shortly after 11 p.m. local time on Tuesday in an informal settlement in the Cleveland neighborhood of Johannesburg. While the motive remains under investigation, law enforcement stated that the shooters were transported to the settlement in a minibus and proceeded to open fire on residents and community members at various spots before fleeing the scene in the same vehicle.
According to the police, the victims included nine men and three women, with eleven perishing on-site and one succumbing to injuries in the hospital. Authorities have initiated a search for the assailants, but no arrests have been made thus far. Informal settlements, common in and around major cities in South Africa, are unplanned residential areas where individuals seeking housing reside in shanties or makeshift dwellings.
Ambulances were present on the scene on Wednesday morning to remove the victims’ bodies, while community members gathered in groups on the streets. South Africa has witnessed several prominent mass shootings lately, with two incidents in December claiming the lives of over 20 individuals, one of which also involved multiple assailants. Mass shootings in the country are frequently linked to criminal syndicates. In Johannesburg, violent gangs engage in illegal mining activities in and around the city, which boasts significant gold reserves and numerous abandoned mines that gangs exploit for illicit purposes, leading to violent confrontations to assert dominance in the region.
An official described the attackers as “heartless,” mentioning that Cleveland is associated with illegal mining operations. However, the area faces additional challenges, including land disputes among different segments of the local populace, making it unclear if illegal mining gangs were responsible for the killings. The police dispatched specialized crime intelligence personnel to the scene, with the provincial police commissioner condemning the attackers as heartless but refraining from connecting the killings to illegal mining until the investigation concludes.
South Africa contends with alarmingly high rates of violent crime, with over 23,000 homicides recorded in the previous fiscal year, translating to an average of more than 60 daily. The issue of illicit mining in Johannesburg and its environs prompted the government to deploy the military to certain high-risk zones in a yearlong operation aimed at curbing violence associated with organized crime, signaling a recognition that law enforcement faces challenges in combating violent criminal elements in some parts of the country.