The two shooting incidents happened in Khayelitsha — the first at around 7pm on Tuesday 7 June, and the second near Steenberg Primary School in Steenberg around 8am on Wednesday.

In the Khayelitsha massacre, four Somalians were killed during a shooting in a supermarket in what appears to be linked to an extortion racket plaguing the community. 

The two unknown males, aged 23 and 28 who were killed in the Steenberg shooting incident, died in what appeared to be a hit.

Two men were gunned down in Steenberg around the corner from Steenberg primary school just before 8am as children were walking to school. (Photo: Brenton Geach)

A 60-year-old grandmother, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Daily Maverick that she had just handed her eight-year-old granddaughter to the ‘walking ladies’ to walk the child safely to the school. 

“Seconds later I heard shots. When I turned around I saw the walking ladies running to school with my granddaughter. I had to run for cover. It was a chaotic scene with several parents running for safety. It is a miracle that none of the children were wounded.”

Steenberg Primary school principal Noel Isaacs said in a statement that at the time of the shooting the learners were safely inside the school’s grounds.

Police spokesperson Sergeant Wesley Twigg confirmed the shooting took place around 8.10am at the corner of Symphony Avenue and Cradock Road, Steenberg. Two males, aged 23 and 28 were fatally wounded, he said.

“According to reports, the victims were standing on the corner when they were approached by an unknown suspect who shot them. Both victims were declared deceased on the scene by medical personnel and the suspect fled the scene.”

Meanwhile, the Khayelitsha massacre has raised concerns of retaliation and could spark further violence in the area. 

Community leaders appealed for urgent interventions.

Provincial Community Policing Forum (CPF) acting chair Fransina Lukas told Daily Maverick: “On the face of it looks like this shooting of the Somalians are linked to the extortions taking place in the broader Khayelitsha. Our concern is that the Somalians might retaliate which will be a bigger crisis for SAPS to deal with.”

To effectively prevent organised crime, Lukas added, police must use the Prevention of Organised Crime Act (Poca) to hunt down the perpetrators or extortionists and bring them to book.

Police across the road from the scene of a shooting in Site C in Khayelitsha where five people were shot and killed and a sixth person died at a medical facility on May 09, 2022 in Cape Town. It is reported that organised crime detectives have opened murder dockets for investigation. (Photo: Gallo Images/Brenton Geach)

The latest massacre in Khayelitsha comes weeks after three people were killed in Lindelwa Street in Ekuphumleni. Two men and a woman died of gunshot wounds.

Police and forensics at the home where five people were murdered on March 14, 2022 in Monwabisi Park, Khayelitsha. (Photo: Gallo Images/Brenton Geach)

Earlier, in March,  four men and a woman were gunned down in a massacre at  the Endlovini informal settlement in Khayelitsha.

“This weekend all the CPFs from the three police stations, Khayelitsha, Lingelethu West and Harare, the neighborhood watches, business and community leaders will hold a mini-summit.

“We will look at the crime stats and discuss our opinion on what needs to be done to see a change in Khayelitsha,” Lukas told Daily Maverick.

Top brass Western Cape police spokesperson Brigadier Novela Potelwa, responding to the challenge SAPS faces in the Khayelitsha area, confirmed that police have opened murder dockets for investigation following an incident where three men were shot dead. A fourth person was seriously wounded and later succumbed to his injuries in hospital on Tuesday evening.

Preliminary reports indicate that unknown gunmen entered the Madiba supermarket in R588 Sulani Drive, Site B and fired several shots. Three people shot inside the shop died on the scene, Potelwa explained.

“Organised crime detectives are investigating the circumstances surrounding the shooting incident. The motive for the incident is yet to be determined,” she said.

The slaying of these six people over the past 24 hours comes days after Police Minister Bheki Cele presented the quarterly crime statistics on Friday 3 February, reflecting on reported crimes committed from 1 January to the end of March 2022.

The quarterly stats paint a grim picture of the state of crime in the country, showing that between January and March 2021, there were 4,976 murders reported in South Africa. For the same period this year, that number increased to 6,083, an increase of 22.2%. Reported attempted murders also increased from 12,133 to 13,799.

From 1 January to 31 March, there were 27,051 reported contact crimes in the Western Cape, including murder, sexual offences, attempted murder, assault and common robbery. The number of reported contact crimes in that period was 24,215, representing an increase of 11.7% over the same period in 2020/21. Between January and March, there were 1,015 reported murders, with 1,933 reported sexual offences.

Anyone with information on the latest killings can contact the police on 08600 10111 or via MySAPSApp. DM