Twelve dead and 13 injured in a Saulsville tavern shooting; Premier Lesufi and police pledge relentless pursuit of the killers.
Police have launched a manhunt after two serious incidents in Gauteng at the weekend – an assassination and a mass shooting.
On Saturday 25 people were shot, with 12 dead and 13 survivors recovering in hospital following a mass shooting at an illegal tavern early on Saturday morning by three suspects.
Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi has described the Saulsville mass murders as heartbreaking and unacceptable acts of criminality that have no place in Gauteng.
Saulsville mass murders ‘heartbreaking and unacceptable’
“We are distressed by the loss of innocent lives, including young children, in this senseless act of violence. Our hearts go out to the families,” he said.
Lesufi said law enforcement authorities, supported by specialised units, were following strong leads and working around the clock to track down the suspects responsible for the attack.
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“As the Gauteng provincial government, we will not allow our communities to live in fear.”
National police commissioner Lieutenant-General Fannie Masemola met Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga about the investigation into the murder of Witness D – Marius van der Merwe – after he testified at the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry.
ActionSA Member of the Gauteng Legislature John Moodey said the Saulsville massacre in the west of Pretoria forms part of a deepening pattern of violent criminality across Gauteng.
Deepening pattern of violent criminality across Gauteng
“Gauteng is facing an organised crime emergency and innocent communities are paying the price for the state’s failure to maintain order,” Moodey said.
“The fact that such catastrophic violence can occur repeatedly in short succession exposes a fundamental collapse in strategic, intelligence-led policing.”
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Moodey said for years, ActionSA had warned that crime syndicates, extortion networks and gang structures have grown more sophisticated and require an equally sophisticated law enforcement response. He also said police intelligence capabilities have deteriorated.
“Residents in townships, suburbs and informal settlements live under siege while criminals act with growing boldness.
“These killings demonstrate, with tragic clarity, that crime in Gauteng is not random; it is systemic, organised and emboldened by a policing system that has lost its strategic capacity,” he said.
Moral fibre slowly but surely being destroyed
The uMkhonto weSizwe party Gauteng spokesperson Abel Tau said rampant crime is a serious indictment of a country whose moral fibre was slowly but surely being destroyed due to weak political leadership and serious problems in the police force.
“Where is the task force responsible for intelligence gathering and using it proactively to mitigate these kinds of attacks?”
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