Gunmen kill nine in South Africa tavern attack

A manhunt is under way after a shooting at a tavern in South Africa left nine people dead and another 10 injured.

Police said seven men and two women were killed in Bekkersdal, near Johannesburg, after about 12 unidentified gunmen arrived in two vehicles and opened fire at patrons.

The shooting happened at about 01:00 local time on Sunday (23:00 GMT Saturday) and the perpetrators "continued to shoot randomly as [people] fled the scene", police added.

South Africa has one of the highest murder rates in the world. Sixty-three people were killed every day on average between April and September this year, according to police figures.

Murders are often the result of arguments, robberies and gang violence. The motive for this attack is not clear.

At the scene, deputy provincial police commissioner Maj-Gen Fred Kekana told broadcaster Newzroom Afrika that the perpetrators, armed with pistols and one AK-47, were "unprovoked".

"The poor patrons were just enjoying themselves when people came and shot," he said.

Two of the victims were shot outside the tavern as they tried to flee and a third was a taxi driver who had dropped off a passenger nearby, Maj-Gen Kekana added.

Resident Nokuthula Bhukwana went to the tavern after she heard the shooting.

"When we arrived at the scene, we opened the doors and indeed scores of people were lying on the floor," she told the Reuters news agency.

"We rushed around and others were calling the police, and we also called the ambulance and they arrived. We had to carry some of the injured people using wheelbarrows to the clinic."

Speaking to Newzroom Afrika, one resident described how gunfire had become a normal thing at night in Bekkersdal.

"Criminals, they do as they please here," the unnamed man said.

"These guns, they sound each and every evening... as soon as it's dusk we know that gunshots are about to sound and they will sound severely.

"It is terrorising our communities."

Interviewed at the scene, deputy mayor for the local municipality Nontombi Molatlhegi said that locals were afraid of speaking out and identifying those responsible.

She said that the police were under-resourced, and too thinly spread, and called for the military to get involved in protecting residents.

"We are crying, as well as the city political leadership, for the intervention of the national government to release [the army] so that they can be able to come in this space" and be visible.

There are about three million legally held firearms in South Africa, but there are at least the same number of unlicensed weapons in circulation in the country, which has a population of 63 million, according to statistics cited by Gideon Joubert from the South African Gunowners' Association.

Earlier this month, at least 11 people - including a child - were shot dead at a hostel near Pretoria.

There has been a significant increase in mass shootings - where four or more people are either killed or injured - since 2020, Claire Taylor, a researcher at campaign group Gun Free South Africa, told the BBC.

Looking at media reports from 2024 her organisation recorded 80 such incidents, which was up from 71 the previous year. There has, however, been a decline in reported mass shootings in 2025.

Among the most common locations are licensed taverns, such as in Bekkersdal this weekend, or illegal drinking spots, known locally as shebeens, which was the case in the 6 December killings.