Call for police to look into root causes of KZN mass shootings
Durban — The mass shootings in Kwazulu-Natal are a concern as they are becoming common.
So says crime analyst and senior researcher at the Institute for Security Studies, Dr Johan Burger.
Burger was speaking after a mass shooting in Inanda on Wednesday night, when five people were killed. The incident occurred days after another mass shooting, in KwaMashu, where seven people were killed in a suspected act of vigilantism.
“Such incidents of vigilantism really raise questions of unlawfulness in KZN, and are becoming more common. In terms of involvement in drugs, South Africa is ranked number seven in the world. Organised crime has become a worry,’’ Burger said.
He said the police needed to look into the root causes of such crimes. Burger said he believed the main drivers behind these shootings were organised crime related to drugs, the construction Mafia, and politics.
KZN SAPS spokesperson Jay Naicker said that according to the information received, it was suspected that the shooting might be drug-related.
“From information gathered at the scene of the shooting incident, we cannot rule out the possibility that the motive is drug-related,” he said.
Naicker said Inanda police received a report of a shooting at the Tambo Plaza area in Amaoti, on Wednesday night. He said that when police officers arrived at the scene, they found the bodies of five men in an RDP house.
“The deceased were found in the house with multiple gunshot wounds. It was established that all five deceased, who were in their twenties, were in the house when they were shot by unknown suspects who arrived in a getaway vehicle. A sixth victim who was shot in the hand was taken to hospital for medical attention,” he said. KZN Violence Monitor Mary de Haas called for an urgent judiciary body implementation to deal with such crimes before elections.
“This is urgent now, since the election is around the corner. People need to campaign freely. We don’t commission an inquiry. We need a judiciary body with legal people who are experienced in criminal work and forensic investigation skills so they can regulate police stations, including guns shops.”
De Haas said she was concerned that the police were not doing their work as expected, which also resulted in such crimes, and said police stations needed to have crime intelligence.
“The police aren’t getting intelligence about who has access to guns. The role of the police is to prevent crime, but they are not doing it. All the stations should have crime intelligence. In fact, that is what the apartheid government used to do to inform the police,” she said.
De Haas said the circumstances of each of the crime cases needed to be looked at.
“It’s alarming how many drug dealings are going on in these places. We need to find a way to deal with this because it’s ruining the youth,” she said.
De Haas said a factor was that the security industry was massive and many security companies operated illegally, including those guarding taxis. She also said security companies needed to be regulated.
“Where are the guns coming from,” De Haas asked.
“There are many police guns that went missing last year. There’s a degree of accountability in the police in terms of keeping guns safe. The security industry is massive. Concerns were raised about the many security companies operating illegally, and some security companies guarding taxi industries. They need to be regulated on how they keep guns safe and get access to guns, including shops they buy from.”
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