Death toll rises to 18 after Lusikisiki mass shootings as police hunt ...

Both incidents took place in the same street in Ngobozana village. Photo: SAPS

Another person has died following two mass shooting that took place in Lusikisiki, Eastern Cape, at the start of the weekend, bringing the death toll to 18.

South African Police Service (SAPS) spokesperson brigadier Athlenda Mathe confirmed on Sunday that the person died in hospital.

“There are no other new developments. However, police investigations are underway,” said Mathe in a brief statement.

Twelve women and a man were initially killed in one home, and four people were killed in another home. Both incidents took place in the same street in Ngobozana village, police minister Senzo Mchunu said on Saturday, when visiting the Eastern Cape.  

Four women, one man and a two-month-old baby survived the shootings.  

Mchunu said that the national police commissioner, General Fannie Masemola, had mobilised “maximum resources” to ensure the gunmen were found.

“The national commissioner has deployed a dedicated team of detectives and forensic  experts which include crime scene managers from Pretoria to piece all evidence together in a bid to apprehend these brutal criminals.”

Mchunu said the shooters should hand themselves over to police “or we will fetch them ourselves”.

The mass shootings come as SAPS says it is intensifying its crackdown on serious and violent crime nationwide through its high density policing strategy, Operation Shanela.  

Mchunu said that over the past month, Operation Shanela had led to the arrest of 53,525 suspects, including 10,844 wanted criminals implicated in crimes such as murder, rape, kidnapping, and extortion.

He said that 430 illegal firearms, including handguns and rifles, had been seized during the operation, with a significant portion of these recovered in the Eastern Cape.  

“We are confident that our men and women in blue are getting a grip on serious and violent crime,” he said.

Mchunu also addressed the growing issue of extortion, which has plagued several communities. He described it as a “thorn in the flesh” and reiterated SAPS’s commitment to bringing extortionists to justice, citing the recent arrests of six extortionists in Gauteng, as well as the deaths of two known criminals in a police shootout in Mthatha.

Mchunu said that SAPS’s priority was to arrest and prosecute offenders, but warned that officers would not hesitate to use force when necessary.

“When our men and women in blue find themselves in a situation that requires them to act, they will act and use force proportional to the threat,” he said.