Two die, three wounded in Mthatha tavern shooting

Two people were shot dead and three  wounded after an unknown gunman opened fire at a tavern in Mthatha, Eastern Cape on Saturday night.

Police spokesperson Col Priscilla Naidu said on Sunday that the man entered the tavern in the Maqhinebeni Location and started shooting at patrons.

A 40-year-old man and a woman, believed to be 30, died. .

Naidu said the woman had not yet been identified.

“At this stage, police have managed to trace five victims that were shot,” she said.

“One person died at the scene while another died in hospital.

“The three injured [two men and a woman] were transported by private transport to hospital.”

Police are investigating two cases of murder and three attempted murders.

Police provincial commissioner Lt-Gen Nomthetheleli Mene

appealed for the community’s assistance in tracing the shooter “as soon as possible”.

“The community plays a pivotal role in assisting police on the whereabouts of criminals,” she said.

“These criminals are living among the communities and we need them to be our ‘eyes and ears’ to arrest perpetrators such as this and bring them to justice.

“Innocent people are being targeted and we cannot allow such a cold-hearted criminal to roam our streets and cause more harm to law-abiding citizens.

“Therefore, he must be arrested in the shortest time possible.”

Police appealed for anyone with information about the shooter to contact SAPS Mthatha’s D/Col Wele Victor Nani on 079-509-0756 or Crime Stop on 08600-10111 or the nearest police station.

“All information is confidential and callers may remain anonymous,” Naidu said.

“Police are also appealing to other people who may have been in the tavern and were also shot to contact Nani.”

It was not clear at  the time of writing on Sunday whether the tavern was licensed.

Eastern Cape Liquor Board spokesperson Mgwebi Msiya expressed concern in the wake of the shooting.

“Actually, we are concerned with any form of criminal activity in our licensed liquor establishments,” he said.

There have been several  mass killings in the province in recent months.

In March, four family members, the youngest two years old,  were hacked to death with an axe in their home in a Lusikisiki village. 

In November, a family of seven died in a hail of bullets in Thantseka village outside Mthatha while preparing to bury a relative who had been gunned down in the same household.

In February, about 14 people were attacked by unknown gunmen in separate incidents.

Three were killed in Thantseka and seven in Qunu, about 13km away.

On the same night, three people, among them a couple, were gunned down in Gqungqa and another person died in Mvezo.

It emerged in June that the Buffalo City and Nelson Mandela metros, and the OR Tambo district are among the most problematic areas in the province for crimes including murder, attempted murder, assault, robbery and sexual offences.

This was revealed when the fourth quarterly crime statistics for 2022/2023 were released in Dikeni.

Safety MEC Xolile Nqatha said at the time the districts that contributed most to these categories of crime were the Nelson Mandela Bay district at 24.4%, Buffalo City 19.7% and OR Tambo District 13%.