27 Killed in Two South Africa Shootings Hours Apart

Twenty-seven people died in two mass shootings roughly nine hours apart in South Africa over the weekend, according to the BBC, which cited police accounts from Gauteng and the Western Cape. Seventeen people were killed Saturday evening at a bar near Johannesburg, and 10 more died early Sunday outside an entertainment venue in a township near Cape Town, the BBC reported.

What happened at the Johannesburg bar?

Eight gunmen opened fire on customers outside the venue before moving inside to continue shooting, then torched two vehicles as they fled, Gauteng Police Commissioner Lt Gen Tommy Mthombeni told the BBC. Thirteen men and four women were killed and 15 people were injured, Mthombeni said. Most victims were South African, though people from Ethiopia and Lesotho were also among the dead, according to the commissioner.

What happened near Cape Town?

Five victims died at the scene and five more died later in hospital after gunmen struck outside an entertainment venue in a township near Cape Town in the early hours of Sunday, the BBC reported. Eleven additional people were injured. No arrests had been made in either shooting as of Sunday morning, per the BBC's reporting.

What motive have police given for the Johannesburg attack?

Mthombeni said investigators believe robbery was a motive, since personal belongings were taken from victims, but he said police could not rule out turf wars between illegal mining groups, the BBC reported. Deputy provincial police commissioner Maj Gen Fred Kekana told AFP the attack may have been retaliation for an incident last month in which one person was killed and another wounded. Kekana said police had clear photos and, in some cases, names for suspects, according to the BBC's account of his remarks at the scene.

The BBC noted that unlicensed mining in abandoned shafts and dump sites remains a persistent problem in South Africa, with authorities saying the miners are typically undocumented migrants recruited by organized crime networks.

How does this compare with South Africa's overall murder rate?

South Africa records about 60 murders a day across a population of 62 million, the BBC reported, one of the highest rates in the world. The weekend's 27 deaths equal roughly 45% of a single day's national murder toll concentrated in two incidents. The attacks came days after 11 people were killed when gunmen stormed a house in Durban's KwaMakhutha township, according to the BBC, and a day after a tenth woman's body was found in Ekurhuleni, east of Johannesburg, with local police saying they could not rule out a serial killer given similarities between the deaths.

"The most immediate threat to our democracy, our society and our economic development," President Cyril Ramaphosa said of organized crime in February, as quoted by the BBC.

What has the government done in response to rising gun violence?

Earlier this year the military was deployed alongside police in areas with the country's highest murder rates, the BBC reported, part of an effort to reduce armed violence tied to gang turf wars over drug trafficking and illegal mining. Police have not issued a definitive, confirmed motive for either weekend shooting.