Specialised police operation activated after bloody weekend of mass shootings

POLICE Minister Senzo Mchunu says the SAPS’ top management must refuse to respond with normal policing methods  to the recent mass murders in Cape Town.

The latest shooting involved  two unknown gunmen who entered a Nyanga house and opened fire on the two victims aged 23 and 25 yesterday. 

Police spokesperson Joseph Swartbooi said  the motive for this attack now forms part of the police investigation.  

The incident came less than 24 hours after  seven men were shot and killed in a house in Kanana informal settlement in the neighbouring  Gugulethu on Saturday. 

Preliminary reports show that the men were ambushed while socialising.

“At approximately 03:30, SAPS members on patrol were alerted to the shooting. Upon arrival at the scene, officers discovered the bodies of seven men, all with gunshot wounds. Preliminary information suggests that the victims were socialising in the kitchen when they were ambushed by unknown assailants. Three other men who were asleep elsewhere in the house at the time of the attack escaped unharmed. The identities of the deceased are being withheld at this stage, and the motive for the heinous crime is yet to be established,” police spokesperson, Andre Traut said.

On Friday, the Provincial Serious and Violent Crime Unit was deployed to follow all leads in connection with a triple murder  in Browns Farm, Philippi.

 “According to reports, two men were travelling in a light delivery vehicle in Nyanga  on 26 June 2025, when they were hijacked at gunpoint by unknown suspects. The suspects forced the victims into the back of the vehicle and drove off. As the vehicle approached the intersection of Sheffield and Moonwood Roads, it came under gunfire from unknown assailants. The shooting resulted in the deaths of three of the alleged hijackers. Their identities and ages are yet to be confirmed,” said police spokesperson Andre Traut. 

On Tuesday, June 24, three men aged between 26 and 35 were found dead in separate but nearby spots in C Section of Samora Machel informal settlement.  

Mchunu said the Cape Flats had become “the killing fields of the Western Cape”.

“What the police ministry and police top management must refuse to do, is to treat this as a normal trend and keep the normal methods of policing in place. The situation requires full implementation of what the Ministry and Management have discussed and concluded over a considerable period of time now. 

“This turn of events is ugly and poses fundamental questions on the safety of people in that area. One thing that is crystal clear is that murderers are out there to kill. It is as if we have to choose between the people and the murderers. We actually do not have a choice. Police have a mandate to protect life and limb of the people, with no resources spared," he said.

He called for a targeted approach before these murderers intensify their terror on people. 

Cape Times