Gauteng Premier David Makhura says the province will not allow criminals to hold it to ransom. The province has seen a spate of gun violence in the past week.
In the latest incidents on Saturday evening, eight people were shot, one of them was killed at the Motsoaledi informal settlement in Diepkloof.
Four people were also killed at the Thembelihle informal settlement near Lenasia.
This follows the 16 deaths at a Soweto tavern more than a week ago and six in Alexandra on Thursday. Makhura was speaking at ANC deputy secretary-general Jesse Duarte’s funeral.
“The law enforcement agencies in this province have been facing a terrible trend of shootings. In Alex, people were arrested and in Soweto, they will announce arrests where sixteen people died….I am confident they will also announce arrests in the course of this week regarding other incidents. Our country cannot be taken over by criminals.”
Meanwhile, eight suspects linked to the murder of six people in Alexandra north of Johannesburg last week, are expected to appear in the local magistrate’s court today.
They are facing charges including murder, attempted murder and possession of stolen properties.
Gauteng Police Commissioner Elias Mawela says the suspects have been positively linked to the attacks.
He says one of them was found in possession of cellphones belonging to the victims.
“The total firearms we have recovered ever since that incident is four, including 39 cellphones which some of those cellphones were confirmed by their lawful owners that ‘this is my cellphone, it was taken from me during the robbery or during the robbery or during that shooting’. So, we have a concrete case against those ones.”
VIDEO | Gauteng Police Commissioner Elias Mawela says police are not losing the battle against crime:
