At least 11 people have been killed in a mass shooting in a residential building near the South African city of Durban.
Gunmen stormed a house in the KwaMakhutha township late on Tuesday and opened fire on 14 people. Ten were killed at the scene and four were taken to hospital, where one later died from their injuries, police said.
Police said some of the victims were on their watch in connection with illegal activities, which they could not “divulge at the moment to protect investigations which have been launched”.
While the motive of the shooting has not yet been confirmed, the police said they could not rule out a “feud between rival groupings”.
“Information available at this stage suggests that 13 men and one woman, who is believed to be pregnant, were reportedly having a party inside a house when three men arrived and opened fire on them,” the police said in a statement. The woman is among those who died.
A local TV reporter from the eNCA channel at the scene said the gunmen had set fire to a vehicle belonging to one of the victims before fleeing, with footage showing the burnt-out car.
The police say they have launched a manhunt for the suspects, who were said to be carrying pistols and rifles.
South Africa has one of the world’s highest murder rates, with police data showing a murder rate equivalent to more than 60 deaths a day.
In recent weeks, the gruesome discovery of at least nine murdered women, with some of the bodies dumped by the roadside, has heightened fears in the country.
Last year, nine people were killed in a mass shooting at a tavern in Johannesburg.
Rivalry among criminal gangs amid turf wars, drug trafficking and illegal mining is common in the country, often driving violence within communities.
In February, President Cyril Ramaphosa said organised crime was “the most immediate threat to our democracy, our society and our economic development”, as he announced that he would be deploying the army to support the police.
Although South Africa has long had a high murder rate, mass shootings are a more recent problem and elicit increased feelings of unsafety, fear and shock.
The phenomenon has led to calls for the government and law enforcement authorities to do more to dismantle organised crime networks and, in some cases, “murder for hire” syndicates – believed to be among the leading instigators of the attacks.
Much has also been said about improving the economic conditions that make crime an attractive enterprise for some.
There are no easy answers for how to solve South Africa’s crime problem but security experts believe that the high proliferation of illegal guns, insufficient visible policing in high crime spots, the slow pace of justice and allegations that senior politicians and police officers have links to criminal gangs all add to the pervasive sentiment that local authorities are losing the fight against crime.
