Shootings in SA: When a ‘toy gun’ turns out to be a high-calibre firearm

Mass shootings continue to rise in South Africa, with reports from Alexandra, Eldorado Park, Tembisa, Lenasia, Pretoria, and more.

Amidst this, SA Police Service (Saps) officers searched a minibus taxi in downtown Johannesburg and confiscated a loaded high-calibre ‘toy gun’.

Shootings escalate in SA

‘Toy gun’ confiscated

Responding to rising crime levels in downtown Johannesburg, Saps officials set up a roadblock and stopped a minibus taxi carrying commuters from Kempton Park

When police ordered commuters to exit the vehicle (with their belongings) one passenger was heard shouting: “Not a real gun, toy gun.”

When asked by the officers why he was carrying a toy gun, the man just repeated, “toy gun, toy gun”.

Upon close inspection of the ‘toy gun’, police found it to be a fully-loaded high-calibre firearm. The passenger was promptly arrested.

Frightened commuters were then ordered back into the vehicle.

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Alexandra shootings

In an unrelated incident, 64 additional JMPD officials were deployed to Alexandra to assist the previous batch of 90 officials after shooting incidents were reported in the region.

MMC for Safety and Security in Johannesburg, David Tembe, said officials are doing “22 points, which means at any given time, we’ll have 22 roadside checks in Alex”.

“We’ll upgrade it to 44 points so that wherever you go, you must see JMPD officers and the police,” Tembe said on Tuesday.

ALSO READ: More JMPD officials deployed to Alexandra

‘All talk, no action’

Meanwhile, The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) said when it comes to crime in the Western Cape, the Democratic Alliance is “all talk and no action”.

Hundreds of members are making their way to the Western Cape Provincial Parliament and the Cape Town Civic Centre on Thursday.

The trade union federation is protesting against the high crime rates and rising fuel prices.

ALSO READ: Cosatu: DA all talk & no action when it comes to crime in WC

Compiled by Cheryl Kahla. Reporting by Brian Sokutu, Vhahangwele Nemakonde and Faizel Patel.