A shooting at an unlicensed bar in Pretoria, South Africa, has left 12 people dead and one more who later died in hospital, with 13 others wounded. Among the fatalities are three minors, aged 3, 12 and 16. The attack occurred early Saturday morning at a hostel in the Saulville township, drawing renewed attention to the country’s illegal drinking establishments, known locally as shebeens.
Athlenda Mathe, a spokesperson for the South African Police, said that these illegal shebeens pose a major challenge for law enforcement. “These illegal shebeens are giving us a problem as the police, because a lot of murders are being reported at these illegal establishments,” she explained. Between April and September this year, police shut down 11,975 illegal shebeens nationwide. South Africa has seen several mass shootings at shebeens in recent years, including a 2022 incident in Johannesburg that claimed 16 lives. On the same day as the Pretoria shooting, another bar in a different province was also the site of a mass shooting that killed four people.
Violence in South Africa extends beyond bars. In September of last year, 18 people—15 of them women—were killed in mass shootings at two houses in the Eastern Cape province. Seven men have been arrested and face multiple murder charges, and police recovered three AK‑style assault rifles believed to have been used in those attacks. The country has one of the highest murder rates in the world, averaging more than 70 deaths per day. Firearms are the leading cause of homicide, and although South Africa’s gun‑ownership laws are relatively strict, many killings are carried out with illegal weapons.
In response, police are intensifying operations to inspect and shut down unlicensed establishments in an effort to curb the violence. The latest shooting underscores the need for continued action to address the root causes of South Africa’s high murder rate. As the investigation proceeds, authorities will work to identify the perpetrators and bring them to justice while also taking steps to prevent similar incidents in the future.
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