THE widespread tavern killings have been widely condemned.
About 21 people have been killed in different taverns this weekend alone.
Fifteen patrons were killed in Orlando East in Soweto, four in Pietermaritzburg and two in Katlehong, Ekurhuleni.
This week’s tavern killings come just a few days after 21 teenagers, who also died in a tavern, were laid to rest in East London in the Eastern Cape.
Reacting to the tragic shootings, President Cyril Ramaphosa said: “As a nation, we cannot allow violent criminals to terrorise us in this way, regardless of where such incidents may occur. As the government, citizens and structures of civil society, we must all work together even more closely to improve social and economic conditions in communities, reduce violent crime and stamp out the illicit circulation of firearms.
“Every single violent death is unacceptable and worrying, and killings on the scale we have seen in Soweto, Pietermaritzburg and previously Khayelitsha must spur us into a collective effort to build communities and make South Africa an unsafe place for criminals.”
South African National Civic Organisation (Sanco) called on law enforcement agencies to have a multidisciplinary security cluster briefing and make a concerted effort to bring the perpetrators of these heinous crime to book.
Its Gauteng chairman Chris Malematja said: “The loss of life and injury of civilians should never be taken for granted. Sanco further would like the elected leaders in government and the legislature to look into alcohol regulation and gun control in South Africa, with particular focus on Gauteng as a hotbed of criminal activity.
“Sanco wishes to reiterate its position in fighting for the rights of the downtrodden. Sanco will therefore advocate for gun control legislation to curb the accessibility to guns and access thereof.”
South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said: “Although the motive for the shooting is not known thus far, the sheer violence in working-class communities is horrifying. No motive for the random and indiscriminate shooting of people can ever be fathomable. It is such instances of sheer violence that have become commonplace in our townships that are indicative of the path of hopelessness, lawlessness, crime and destruction that South Africa has entered.”
He added: “Crime and sheer violence spring directly out of the worsening socio-economic conditions in our country, Southern Africa, and the world over. This socio-economic crisis is reproduced by the political economy of capitalism, in which the hoarding of wealth by the 10% of the population has driven an overwhelming majority of working class people into poverty. To survive, the pauperised masses of unemployed people resort to odious methods such as hijacking and robbery.”
