How many more lives have to be lost before the violence slows?
That’s the question hanging over Cape Town after gunmen shot dead seven people in a township outside the city early on Saturday.
An attack police believe is linked to extortion.
The shooting happened just after midnight in Marikana, a community on the Cape Flats.
Six men and one woman, all aged between 30 and 50, were killed. Three others were wounded.
The attackers fled before police arrived, triggering a manhunt that is still under way.
“This incident is believed to be linked to extortion in the area,” police said, adding that no arrests have yet been made.
Sadly, the massacre is not an isolated case.
Gang Violence Escalates
South Africa, home to about 63 million people, is battling deep-rooted crime tied to organised gangs and corruption.
The numbers are sobering: police data shows around 63 people were killed every day between July and September last year.
Cape Town’s Cape Flats, where the shooting took place, has long been associated with gang violence.
More than 2,000 murders were recorded there in just the first nine months of 2025.
In December alone, two separate mass shootings — one at a hostel, another at a bar — killed two dozen people, including children.
For residents, fear has become routine. For authorities, the challenge remains the same: how to break the cycle.
Until then, each new dawn seems to bring the same grim headline — and the same unanswered questions.
