Eleven people, including three children, were killed in a shooting at an illegal bar in the Saulsville township, west of Pretoria, South Africa, in the early hours of Saturday. Police reported that another 14 people were wounded and taken to the hospital.
According to a statement from the South African Police Service (SAPS), ten victims died at the scene, and the eleventh died after being transported to a hospital. Police spokesperson Brig. Athlenda Mathe told national broadcaster SABC, “We are told that at least three unknown gunmen entered this hostel where a group of people were drinking and they started randomly shooting.” The motive for the shooting remains unclear.
The shooting occured around 4:15 a.m., though police were alerted at 6 a.m.
South Africa experiences a high rate of homicides, with over 26,000 recorded in 2024-averaging more than 70 per day. Firearms are the leading cause of death in these homicides. Despite relatively strict gun ownership laws, many killings are committed with illegally obtained weapons.
Recent years have seen several mass shootings at bars, known locally as shebeens or taverns. In July 2023, eight people were killed in a similar incident in Durban. In September 2023, seventeen people were killed in two separate shootings in a rural town. A 2022 shooting in Johannesburg’s Soweto township resulted in sixteen deaths.
police have been actively addressing the issue of unlicensed bars, shutting down over 11,000 illegal taverns and arresting more than 18,000 individuals involved in illegal liquor sales between April and September of this year, Mathe said.
Mass killings in South Africa are not limited to bars. In September 2023,eighteen people,including fifteen women,were killed in shootings at two houses in Eastern Cape province. Seven men were arrested in connection with those shootings, and police recovered three AK-style assault rifles believed to have been used in the attacks.
