Bekkersdal shooting: Gunmen kill nine in attack on South Africa tavern

A manhunt is underway after a shooting at a tavern in South Africa left nine people dead and 10 others injured.

Police said seven men and two women were killed in Bekkersdal, near Johannesburg, after about 12 unidentified gunmen arrived in two vehicles and opened fire on customers.

The shooting occurred around 01:00 local time on Sunday (23:00 GMT on Saturday) and the perpetrators “continued to shoot randomly as [people] “He fled the scene,” the police added.

South Africa has one of the highest homicide rates in the world. According to police figures, an average of sixty-three people were murdered each day between April and September of this year.

Murders are often the result of arguments, robberies and gang violence. The motive for this murder is unclear.

At the scene, provincial police deputy commissioner Maj. Gen. Fred Kekana told broadcaster Newzroom Afrika that the perpetrators, armed with pistols and an AK-47, were “unprovoked.”

“The poor customers were just having fun when people came and shot,” he said.

Two of the victims were shot outside the tavern when they tired to flee and a third was a taxi driver who had dropped off a passenger nearby, Maj. Gen. Kekana added.

Speaking to Newzroom Afrika, one resident described how gunshots had become a regular occurrence at night in Bekkersdal.

“Here criminals do what they want,” said the anonymous man.

“These guns go off every night… as soon as it gets dark we know that shots are about to go off and they’re going to be loud.

“It’s terrorizing our communities.”

There are around three million legal firearms in South Africa, but there are at least the same number of unlicensed weapons in circulation in the country, according to statistics cited by Gideon Joubert of the South African Gun Owners Association.

Earlier this month, at least 11 people, including a child, were shot dead at a hostel near Pretoria.