Shebeens turned into killing fields
A media statement issued by the police revealed that four unknown men arrived at the shebeen and parked their vehicle outside.
Gradually, it seems life is dragging us towards an era that was once characterised by the same senseless violence that today makes many of us feel like we are living through a terrifying nightmare.
Otherwise, how else does one explain the massacre of innocent shebeen patrons who were violently murdered at different venues in three different provinces on a single weekend? Senseless as they may be, all three incidents are without a doubt unprecedented and unparalleled in the history of this country’s booze business in the townships.
According to police reports, the first shebeen shooting was traced to a low-cost housing residential settlement in an area called Kwanele, southwest of Kathorus. Police were notified about the incident at around 22:00 on July 8.
This was after a bloody shooting spree led by four unidentified men who left behind two victims, who were drinking at the tavern, dead. Eight others at the time of going to press were seriously injured and later rushed to the hospital for medical treatment.
A media statement issued by the police revealed that four unknown men arrived at the shebeen and parked their vehicle outside. The assailants then walked into the shebeen where they started shooting randomly at patrons and robbing others of valuable items, including money and cellphones.
Acting Katlehong SAPS station commander Colonel Erasmus issued a statement describing how police later found spent cartridges and live ammunition at the scene of the crime.
The raiders fled the scene of the massacre. The incident has left local residents and liquor traders shocked and scores of shebeen patrons around Kathorus fearful and uncertain.
In a place called Sweetwaters in the Pietermaritzburg area of KZN, local residents were also subjected to a similar situation when four people were shot and killed when the shebeen they were drinking at was stormed by unknown intruders.
Perhaps the worse shebeen massacre of the weekend was the killing raid at Nomzamo informal settlement in Orlando East, Soweto, in the early hours of last Sunday morning. The number of patrons killed by the unknown raiders remains the highest at 15 left dead.
Piecing together details of the Sunday morning killing spree in Soweto, the SAPS media head Elias Mawela described the incident as “tragic”. The description of the scene immediately conjured memories of a bygone era depicting the history of a violent past.
As we have seen in the townships of Cape Town where such shebeen shootings have become a daily occurrence, let us pray that shebeens around the country are not turned into “killing fields”.
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