Police absences and gangs fuel South Africa’s killings

A mass shooting in a Johannesburg shack settlement left 12 dead and at least 15 wounded, with no arrests—another episode analysts link to organized criminal gangs exploiting police failures and deep inequality.

Johannesburg (MISRYOUM USA News) — In a cramped informal settlement made of shacks, multiple suspects opened fire this week and left 12 people dead and at least 15 wounded, authorities said. No arrests have been made.

For residents in Johannesburg’s poorest outskirts, the violence doesn’t land like an unexpected storm. They said illegal mining gangs were known to operate in the neighborhood where the attack happened. Police said the motive for the shooting was not known, but mining gangs were a focus of the investigation.

South Africa’s president has already shown how serious officials believe the crisis to be. Earlier this year. the president deployed the army to the streets in several hotspots in an attempt to combat organized crime. Critics pointed to the move as an admission that police—often absent or unable to respond effectively in some areas—were losing ground.

That weakness is more than a matter of manpower, analysts say. South Africa’s police force has faced allegations of corruption and collusion with criminal syndicates. The fallout has been widespread: more than a dozen senior officers have been arrested. and top officials—including the police minister and the national police commissioner—have been suspended.

The pattern, experts argue, shows up in the places where people have the least protection.

Recent mass shootings—including two in December that left more than 20 people dead—have occurred in poor areas away from city centers. Experts say organized crime gangs take advantage of conditions like a lack of security, poor lighting, and slow police responses. Jacob Mofokeng. a professor of criminology at the University of South Africa. said criminal syndicates “explicitly capitalize on this to hide weapons. execute hits. and vanish into the shadows.”.

South Africa has very high levels of violent crime. with the most recent annual statistics showing an average of more than 60 homicides a day. Still, analysts say the killings are concentrated: the vast majority occur in poor townships or informal settlements. The country’s long history of deep inequality shows up in the numbers. with rich neighborhoods seeing much lower rates of violent crime than poorer communities.

Some of the most feared networks are tied to illegal mining around Johannesburg. Illegal mining gangs have long been a problem in and around South Africa’s largest city. which has some of the biggest gold reserves in the world. These gangs are notorious and known as zama zamas. a term that translates roughly as “hustlers” or “chance-takers” in the Zulu language.

Zama zamas establish bases in impoverished and poorly policed areas. They fight turf battles with other gangs and use violence to hold control. Authorities say these mining gangs often include migrants from neighboring countries who are in South Africa illegally. That can make it hard for police to track down suspects. because Mofokeng said they have “no legal identification. no registered address. and no fingerprints or DNA profile. ” making them “effectively a ghost.”.

The government has said it loses more than $3 billion a year to illicit mining, and zama zamas have been a problem for decades. It was one of the reasons President Cyril Ramaphosa authorized a yearlong deployment of troops on the streets to fight organized crime in specific areas across the country.

Even when police do respond, the supply of weapons can overwhelm enforcement. South Africa has strict regulations controlling legal firearm ownership. but independent studies and civil society organizations say there are around 2 million to 3 million illegal guns circulating in a country of 62 million people. Guns are by far the most common cause of homicides.

Willem Els. an analyst at South Africa’s Institute for Security Studies. said the flow of illegal guns and police failures created an environment where criminality can thrive. He told the AP that “In South Africa. we actually managed to create conditions that are very conducive for violent crime and also for organized crime syndicates to operate with impunity. ” adding that “we’ve got a lot of unregistered firearms that are not being controlled by the police.”.

And in many neighborhoods, the problem doesn’t stop at hardware or staffing. Trust has eroded.

Analysts say police in South Africa are underresourced, but allegations of corruption have seriously undermined credibility. Mike Bolhuis. a private investigator and security specialist. said police corruption affects what happens on the ground. because citizens are sometimes hesitant to provide information or help authorities.

“The public doesn’t trust the police, they don’t trust the authorities, and they don’t trust each other,” Bolhuis said.

There is one detail authorities haven’t been able to change yet: after this week’s attack in Johannesburg’s informal settlement—12 dead and at least 15 wounded—there have been no arrests.

Johannesburg South Africa mass shooting organized crime police failures police corruption illegal mining gangs zama zamas Cyril Ramaphosa illegal firearms violent crime