With more than 80 mass shootings recorded in 2024 — almost one or two every week — South Africa is facing a gun violence crisis worsened by weak accountability and a dangerous normalisation of mass killings.
Gun Free South Africa said the scale of the bloodshed, coupled with limited consequences for perpetrators, is fuelling public desensitisation and emboldening violent behaviour.
Dr Stanley Maphosa, executive director of Gun Free South Africa, said the trend was evident in a string of recent mass shootings, including a deadly attack at a tavern in Bekkersdal, west of Johannesburg, where gunmen opened fire this month, killing at least nine people and injuring several others. At least 10 people were killed when shooters targeted patrons at an unlicensed pub near Pretoria, one of several similar incidents reported in recent weeks.
Maphosa said Gun Free South Africa recorded more than 80 mass shootings in 2024, defining a mass shooting as an incident in which four or more people are killed at the same time.
“What is driving this is the availability of weapons, legal and illegal, and the lack of accountability, regulation and control over how they are used,” he said.
Maphosa warned that firearms were leaking from the legal pool into the illegal market, where they are used to intimidate, settle scores and carry out mass killings.
“There are many guns out there. Some are legal, some are illegal, and some move from the legal system into criminal hands. That must be urgently addressed.”
He said one of the most troubling aspects was the lack of consequences for perpetrators, even after deadly attacks.
“We are not seeing enough prosecutions or meaningful punishment. Some cases are poorly investigated, some fall away, and in others suspects are granted bail and walk free. That is discouraging for families who lose loved ones,” he said.
According to Maphosa, the breakdown occurs across the criminal justice system. from policing to prosecution.
“The law exists and it is good, but it is not being implemented. It must be enforced without fear, favour or prejudice.”
He called on police to improve firearm tracing and make the findings public.
“When police recover firearms used in mass shootings, they must trace them and tell the public where the guns came from. That is how we identify supply chains and stop the violence at its source.”
Maphosa warned that repeated exposure to mass killings was numbing the public.
“The constant filming, sharing and defending of violent behaviour, whether framed as politics or culture, makes what is abnormal feel acceptable,” he said.
Maphosa said South Africans need to confront what the violence meant for the country’s future.
“We must ask ourselves what kind of society we are building, and what the level of violence is doing to our children and our development as a nation.”
TimesLIVE
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