BEKKERSDAL, South Africa — Nine people have died and at least 10 others were wounded after a group of gunmen carried out a shooting at a South African pub during the early hours of Sunday, authorities said.
The incident occurred just before 1 a.m. in the township of Bekkersdal, about 28 miles west of Johannesburg. It is the second mass shooting in South Africa in about two weeks.
About 12 gunmen in a white minibus and a silver sedan opened fire at pub patrons at KwaNoxolo tavern, in the Tambo section of Bekkersdal, and continued to shoot randomly as they fled the scene, according to police.
“Some victims were randomly shot in the streets by unknown gunmen,” the police said.
Maj. Gen. Fred Kekana, the acting provincial commissioner of Gauteng province, told the Associated Press at the scene that the gunmen, some of whom wore balaclavas, had one AK-47 rifle and several 9-millimeter pistols.
Police did not release information about the victims, but police spokesperson Brigadier Brenda Muridili confirmed that an car-hailing driver was among those caught in the crossfire. She said the driver had just dropped off a rider.
“He was shot and killed,” she told the AP.
The motive for the shooting is unknown. A manhunt for the suspects has been initiated by Gauteng Serious and Violent Crime Investigations in collaboration with the Crime Detection Tracing Unit.
There have been several mass shootings at bars — sometimes called shebeens or taverns in South Africa — in recent years, including one carried out by a group of assailants in an unlicensed bar near Pretoria, South Africa’s administrative capital, that left at least 12 people dead and 13 injured this month.
In 2022, a shooting killed 16 people in the Johannesburg township of Soweto. On the same day, four people were killed in a mass shooting at a bar in another province.
The second-largest political party in South Africa, the Democratic Alliance, called for a special task force to investigate the two recent shootings in Gauteng province.
Surrounded by abandoned mine shafts, the Bekkersdal region is notorious for illicit mining operations, which have led to serious social problems, including gang violence and the proliferation of illegal firearms.
With almost 26,000 homicides in 2024, or more than 70 per day on average, South Africa has one of the highest homicide rates in the world. Firearms are by far the leading cause of death in homicides. Although the nation of 62 million has comparatively stringent gun control laws, officials say many homicides are carried out using illegal firearms.
Gumede and Nqunjana write for the Associated Press and reported from Johannesburg and Bekkersdal, respectively.
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