Tavern shootings: Calls grow for police to step up

Criminologist professor Jaco Barkhuizen described the Soweto tavern shooting on Sunday as horrendous.

“It is not just the Soweto shooting, it’s all the shootings across the country. We have to stop and ask what is going on,” he said.

Barkhuizen said it was alarming taverns were sites of criminal activity and violence. “This is not isolated and is becoming more frequent. We need to look at why this was happening and ask where our crime intelligence was,” he said.

Barkhuizen said mass murder and mass shootings were usually premeditated. “We need to ask if it was a lone shooter or a syndicate and how can we prevent it. It doesn’t matter if you change the age of alcohol consumption or if you ban firearms. Someone will get a hold of a firearm and someone will drink underage,” he said.

President Cyril Ramaphosa said yesterday security agencies and community members must work together to “urgently bring the perpetrators of the two attacks to book”.

“As a nation, we cannot allow violent criminals to terrorise us in this way, regardless of where such incidents may occur,” Ramaphosa said.

“As government, citizens and structures of civil society we must all work together even more closely to improve social and economic conditions in communities, reduce violent crime and stamp out the illicit circulation of firearms.

“Every single violent death is unacceptable and worrying, and killings on the scale we have seen in Soweto, Pietermaritzburg and previously Khayelitsha must spur us into a collective effort to build communities and make South Africa an unsafe place for criminals,” said Ramaphosa.

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Barkhuizen said South Africa’s crime prevention strategy was outdated. He asked if we were getting a return on investment as taxpayers if 60% of the police budget was spent on salaries.

“We need to be assured when a crime is committed that the criminal justice system is functional. From the police investigation to prosecutors right through to correction services.

“It is time for SA to stand up and say enough is enough. It is getting out of hand,” he said.

Democratic Alliance member of the portfolio committee on human settlements Dr Ntombi Khumalo said it was worrying that these incidents happened daily in South Africa.

“Looking at crime statistics and the rising murder rate, this reiterates the big problem in South Africa in terms of crime, policing and law enforcement. We need to professionalise the police service and start enforcing accountability,” she said.

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Khumalo said the police had to establish partnerships with the communities. “You cannot anticipate this happening on a Saturday night on a particular day.

“Despite police patrols, when you notice areas with shebeens in informal settlements, it is clear a situation like this will happen.”

Khumalo said the tavern was licensed but it only had one entrance. “We should look at the bylaws. If you sense danger and you were in there, there was nowhere to run because there was only one door which the danger came in through,” she said.

“We hear all the problems, but we are not hearing solutions,” she said.

Gauteng premier David Makhura said it could not be allowed that “innocent people are killed like animals”.

“We condemn, in the strongest terms possible, the senseless killing of so many people. We call on the law enforcement agencies to leave no stone unturned to ensure the perpetrators are brought to book.”