South Africa police say 15 people killed in bar shooting in Soweto

Gunmen used automatic rifles and powerful handguns to kill 15 people and injure a further eight in a mass shooting at a tavern in Johannesburg’s Soweto township in the early hours of Sunday.

The attack in the Nomzamo informal settlement occurred shortly after midnight when a group of men arrived in a Toyota minibus and entered the bar, neighbours told the Guardian.

Police said victims had been shot “at random” while they were drinking, contradicting early reports that they had been targeted specifically. Such shootings are often linked to gangland vendettas or turf battles.

Col Dimakatso Sello, a national police spokesperson, said a special team had been formed to investigate the attack, led by a senior detective.

“There was no history of problems with the tavern as far as the police are concerned but the township has been difficult for us because there is no electricity and so it’s very dark,” Sello said.

The Gauteng province police commissioner, Lt Gen Elias Mawela, told reporters that many victims had died as they attempted to flee.

“All of a sudden they heard some gunshots, that is when people tried to run out of the tavern. We don’t have the full details at the moment of what is the motive, and why they were targeting these people,” he said.

“You can see that a high-calibre firearm was used and it was shooting randomly. You can see that every one of those people were struggling to get out of the tavern … The number of cartridges shows it was a group of people [shooting],” Mawela added.

Rifles and a 9mm pistol were used in the attack, Sello said.

A relative of one of the victims is consoled as South African police officers refuse to let her cross the police barrier. Photograph: Ihsaan Haffejee/AFP/Getty Images

The shooting underlines the continuing lawlessness in parts of South Africa, and the very high rates of violent crime, often involving firearms. Four people were killed in a similar attack on a tavern in Pietermaritzburg.

Nomzamo township is one of the poorest parts of Soweto, a satellite city on the outskirts of Johannesburg made famous by the role it played during the struggle against apartheid. Much of Soweto is now considered relatively affluent. Tourists flock to museums, restaurants and Nelson Mandela’s home, a mile or so from the scene of the shootings.

However, Nomzamo, a cluster of tin and wood huts with a line of portable toilets and a few scattered concrete homes, is a reminder of the deep poverty that persists in South Africa.

“It’s tough here and it’s getting worse. It is very crowded, there are no jobs, no electricity, nothing,” said Thabiso Letlojane, 31, who has lived in the township all his life.

Letlojane had been drinking in the tavern hours before the attack. “It’s just a normal pub. It was very calm in the evening. We are really shocked. It just shows that no one is safe, especially in this area. People are shooting all the time, every day every night. You can’t sleep without hearing the sound of the guns,” he told the Guardian.

Gladys Nkona said she blamed the African National Congress, which has held power since the end of the apartheid regime almost 30 years ago. The ruling party has been hit by a series of corruption charges and is often the target of protest by local communities who want better services.

“The police do nothing. The government does nothing. They don’t care about poor people. For them it’s just about filling their own pockets,” Nkona, 42, said.

Officials said the tavern was operating according to its licence, and that all of the casualties were of legal drinking age. One has been discharged from hospital after treatment. Seven others are still in serious or critical conditions.

The age of drinkers has become a focus after 21 teenagers were found dead in a tavern in the city of East London two weeks ago. The cause of those deaths has not yet been announced by authorities, but the victims were neither shot nor crushed in a stampede.

ANC officials said they had done much to help the residents of Nomzamo township.

“Five years ago, there were no proper houses and there’s been a lot of progress. If you look across Soweto you can see the development. You give people a start and they help themselves. There is harmony here,” said Stan Itshegetseng, a regional ANC official, who said he had come to Nomzamo after hearing of the shootings to “listen to the people”.

The country’s murder rate dropped substantially during Covid lockdowns but rose sharply in the last three months of 2021, according to the most recent statistics. Alcohol outlets are the fourth most common location for killings in South Africa.