Murders bleed into North Coast towns
In a disturbing trend, a rising number of daytime shootings have resulted in the deaths of at least 10 individuals this year alone between KwaDukuza and Tongaat towns, as well as along the N2.
At least 10 people have been killed in daytime shootings between KwaDukuza and Tongaat towns and along the N2 this year alone.
Despite murder statistics being marginally down at KwaDukuza and Umhlali police stations as indicated in the latest crime report by police Minister Bheki Cele, it appears that criminals are growing ever more brazen.
The issue again made the news last Friday when a shoot-out between hijackers and law enforcement officers took place on the N2 near the King Shaka International Airport just after 8am.
Fortunately no casualties were recorded, but it talks to the increased visibility of crime which has bled out into the open.
Two weeks ago a Tongaat Home Affairs employee was executed in her car in central Tongaat, with video footage showing the killer casually jogging off after firing six shots.
A Chatsworth businessman was shot and killed in Sheffield in a suspected hit in April, while five people were shot in taxi violence linked hits in Tongaat in March.
The owner of a KwaDukuza clothing store died in hospital after being shot during a robbery in February.
This aside from more opportunistic crimes along the N2.
A delivery driver was shot and killed by hitchhikers near the Tongaat Toll Plaza and a man was killed after running out of petrol at the Umdloti onramp, both in January.
In 2022, over the same time period, five similar cases were recorded in daytime between KwaDukuza and Tongaat and along the N2.
Per the murder statistics released by Cele for January to March this year, KwaDukuza Saps recorded 22 murders, Tongaat Saps 15 and Umhlali 14.
This is down from 23 and 20 for KwaDukuza and Umhlali respectively, while Tongaat is one higher than the 14 recorded over the same time period last year.
If one takes a five-year view of the statistics, murders have remained reasonably consistent at all three stations (aside from drops during lockdown).
Which is all to say that it is not a new issue, but rather that an eye test of the recent cases shows encroachment into towns and onto the highway when it was previously largely contained in townships and rural areas.
Law enforcement stakeholders pointed towards an increase in illegal gun ownership as the root cause when speaking to the Courier in March and April after a spate of shootings in townships.
Whether this year’s high rate of daytime murders is an anomaly remains to be seen.
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