Two mass shootings carried out roughly four hours apart left at least 27 people dead in South Africa over the weekend, pushing the death toll from township massacres this week to at least 38.
The deadlier attack began around 9:30 p.m. Saturday in Wedela, a township in Gauteng province’s West Rand mining district. Police said eight men carrying AK-47s and handguns fired on patrons drinking outside a tavern, then went inside and kept shooting. Seventeen people — 13 men and four women — were killed and 15 others were wounded. The gunmen took cellphones from some victims before leaving in two vehicles. Two other cars were set on fire at the scene.
#sapsGP [GAUTENG POLICE LAUNCH MANHUNT AFTER 17 PEOPLE KILLED IN WEDELA TAVERN SHOOTING]
Gauteng police have launched a manhunt for eight unidentified armed men following a deadly shooting at a tavern in Extension 3, Wedela, West Rand District, on Saturday, 26 September 2026, at… pic.twitter.com/2G4jNsYcU6
— SA Police Service 🇿🇦 (@SAPoliceService) September 27, 2026
Shortly before 2 a.m. Sunday, attackers struck a shisanyama — a barbecue spot that doubles as a bar — in Lwandle, near Somerset West outside Cape Town, killing 10 and wounding 11. Police have not said how many gunmen were involved.
No arrests have been made in either case. Reuters reported that investigators are examining a turf war among illegal gold miners, known locally as “zama zamas,” as a possible motive in one shooting and a business rivalry in the other. A senior Gauteng police official said one of the Wedela victims had been wanted in connection with an earlier shooting at the same tavern last month.
Police have given no indication that race played a role in any of the attacks, which struck township residents — South African and foreign nationals alike at Wedela — and which investigators have tied to gang feuds and the illicit gold trade. The violence is distinct from the pogroms against white-owned farms that President Donald Trump has repeatedly highlighted.
The weekend’s bloodshed came days after three gunmen killed 11 people, among them a pregnant woman, at a Tuesday night house party in KwaMakhutha.
“It cannot go on like this,” President Cyril Ramaphosa told local media Sunday, adding that security forces had been ordered to intensify their efforts against violent crime.
In March Ramaphosa sent 2,200 soldiers into high-crime areas across five provinces, including around Johannesburg and Cape Town, in a yearlong operation targeting gangs and illegal mining. South Africa recorded 5,427 homicides between April and June — close to 60 a day — according to police figures, with shootings the most common cause.
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