Crime analyst Dr. Chris de Kock says KwaZulu-Natal has become a breeding ground for hired hit men. In recent months, drive-by shootings have become more frequent in Durban and surrounding areas.
In the last two weeks, two cases were reported in Chatsworth and one in Wentworth. Dr. de Kock says this is worrying.
“I think that the drive-by modus operandi is part of an increase in hit squads. It seems, especially KwaZulu-Natal, is quite a source of hit squads operating there and even further afield. You would remember there was this drive-by shooting – a person was shot here in JHB, she was a whistle-blower. The guys involved there were from KwaZulu-Natal.
If I can put it in inverted comas, they did it very professionally. If you look at the Senzo Meyiwa case, that is hit squad members from KZN. And that is what is happening in Durban, in areas north and south of Durban. These guns, hired guns, are hired to take out people.”
However, KwaZulu-Natal police spokesperson Jay Naicker says the modus operandi, the hit men are using is suspicious.
“So we will have to look at what offences took place. Was it a robbery, was it a murder, was it attempted murder, and was it a cash-in-transit robbery, taxi-related. So these incidents will be investigated by different detectives depending on the nature of the crime and the motives of these criminals. So as I say, it is just a modus operandi, it is the way criminals operate. We can’t allocate any case where a drive-by shooting takes place to a specific unit. It is allocated to detectives, it could be at station level, it could be at provincial level, we also have national units who are investigating certain cases like political violence,” says Naicker.
