Police stated the suspects arrested had been discovered with unlicensed firearms, together with 4 handguns and an AK-47 rifle.
Printed On 25 Dec 2025
Police in South Africa say they’ve arrested 11 folks, together with many suspected of being undocumented miners, in reference to Sunday’s taking pictures at a tavern that killed 10 folks.
9 residents of Lesotho and one Mozambican had been amongst these arrested on Wednesday after police and safety stormed two homes outdoors Johannesburg.
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Ten others had been wounded in Sunday’s shooting by which a couple of dozen gunmen in a minibus and a automobile focused a tavern within the township of Bekkersdal. There have been several mass shootings at bars – typically referred to as shebeens or taverns in South Africa – in recent times.
Police stated the suspects arrested had been discovered with unlicensed firearms, together with 4 handguns and an AK-47 rifle.
Fred Kekana, performing provincial commissioner of Gauteng, informed reporters that police had discovered cartridges and reside ammunition of the “similar sort” of firearms on the taking pictures scene in Bekkersdal. They had been despatched for testing to find out in the event that they had been used within the taking pictures.
Authorities additionally arrested a South African mine worker who faces prices associated to harbouring undocumented tenants and obstructing justice.
On Tuesday, the pub’s proprietor, Nonesi Matwa, was charged with fraud and working an unlawful liquor outlet, in keeping with native media.
The proprietor’s household informed the media that Matwa was being unfairly focused.
They stated that she was not accountable for the violence, stating she was not the one who “pulled the set off and killed the patrons”.
Surrounded by deserted mine shafts, townships west of Johannesburg, like Bekkersdal, are infamous for illicit mining operations, which have led to issues together with gang violence and the proliferation of unlawful firearms.
In areas the place the mining trade as soon as thrived, undocumented miners often called “zama-zamas” have continued to function. The commerce is believed to be predominantly managed by migrants who enter with out papers from Lesotho, Zimbabwe and Mozambique.
With nearly 26,000 homicides in 2024, or greater than 70 per day on common, South Africa has one of many highest murder charges on this planet. Firearms are by far the main reason for loss of life in these killings. Though the nation of 62 million folks has comparatively stringent gun management legal guidelines, officers stated many killings are carried out utilizing unlawful firearms.
