DOMINANT ANGLE
Islamabad takes away from these South African dispatches a familiar security lesson: a proliferation of illegal weapons that neither police crackdowns nor the November polls seem able to stem.
Dominant angle identified — does not reflect unanimity of this country’s media
KEY POINTS
- 01
17 dead and 15 injured in Wedela, where eight armed men with AK-47s and pistols attacked a tavern around 9:30pm Saturday, before setting two vehicles on fire
- 02
10 dead and 11 injured in Lwandle, near Cape Town, at a barbecue business around 2am Sunday, four hours after the first attack
- 03
Crime expert Yusuf Abramjee, quoted by Reuters, calls on authorities to investigate "the broader networks behind the violence", beyond the direct perpetrators
ANALYSIS
Islamabad, September 28, 2026. Pakistani agencies are wrapping up the weekend with a bloody toll from South Africa: 27 dead in a matter of hours, in two separate shootings near Johannesburg and Cape Town. According to reports picked up by Business Recorder and ARY News, eight armed men with AK-47 rifles and pistols opened fire around 9:30 p.m. on Saturday at a tavern in the Wedela township, 80 km southwest of Johannesburg, killing 17 people — 13 men and four women — and injuring 15 others. The attackers searched customers, took their phones, set two vehicles on fire before fleeing in two unidentified cars. Four hours later, around 2 a.m. on Sunday, 10 people were killed and 11 injured in a store selling grilled food in Lwandle, near Cape Town. No arrests had been announced on Sunday, with the police mobilizing "a team of detectives and specialized units" to track down the perpetrators.
The Pakistani press is particularly focusing on the structural dimension of the problem: according to crime expert Yusuf Abramjee, cited by Reuters, "South Africa has a serious problem with illegal firearms," which are frequently used by organized crime groups. He calls on the authorities to "look at the broader networks behind the violence," rather than limiting themselves to the investigation into the direct perpetrators. The reports recall that with around 60 people killed every day, South Africa has one of the highest homicide rates in the world, and that these shootings come five days after another massacre that killed at least 11 people near Durban. In March, soldiers had already been deployed in high-risk areas of Johannesburg, with crime being described by President Cyril Ramaphosa as "one of the greatest threats" to the country. The articles also note the electoral stakes: crime is expected to weigh heavily in the November municipal elections, where the African National Congress is facing further erosion of its support. Ramaphosa has promised that the security forces "will do everything" to reduce violence — a phrase that the Pakistani press reports without comment, letting the numbers speak.
