By: Natasha Archary
It was another bloody weekend for South Africa, as 9 more people were gunned down in Gauteng and the Western Cape.
Both fatal shootings took place at informal settlements driving the narrative that the township shooting massacres are linked.
However, police say it’s presumptuous to say the shootings that have rocked the country in recent weeks are connected.
While the suspects from the weekend’s shooting massacres are still on the loose, police say they are working off a few leads.
The latest mass shootings occurred in Thembelihle informal settlement, on the Golden Highway, south of Johannesburg and Khayelitsha township, Cape Town.
Four people were shot and killed in Thembelihle, with two other injured in the shooting at 19h30 on Saturday, 16 July.
The men who were playing a game were attacked by unknown number of men who opened fire on them.
Police say the four men were certified dead on the scene, while two other were taken to the nearby clinic for treatment.
In a separate incident, also at Thembelihle informal settlement, a 36-year old man who was robbed of his belongings was found with gunshot wounds. The man succumbed to his injuries.
The shooting in Khayelitshe is still under investigation by three people were shot and killed in the township on Saturday night. A fourth also sustained gunshot wounds in an unrelated incident in the area and also died.
The bloody weekend events comes after the country has experienced back to back weekends of tavern shootings, in Soweto, Katlehong, Mamelodi and Pietermaritzburg.
Also read: Bus transporting 20 learners explodes near Mafikeng
