By Neelam Rahim

More mass murders in Johannesburg and Cape Town on Saturday night have sparked intense speculation about the recent dramatic surge in violence across the country, as per the Daily Maverick.

At the shooting scene in Lenasia in Johannesburg, five people died in Thembelihle informal settlement. Gauteng commissioner Elias Mawela described it as “another horrific, horrendous crime scene”.

The police identified four bodies. Another two people were injured and brought to the hospital. The incident happened at about 7.30 pm.

“These people were sitting around the fire, and so they were attacked at that time,” said Mawela. “Two died at the corner, and another person died down by the road.

“The fourth body, we are told is in another block. We don’t understand how this has happened – whether that person was a part of this group, or he was found by those assailants after they were moving aloof from the crime scene.”

In a media release on Sunday, 17 July, the provincial commissioner of the police office in Gauteng said people within the group were playing dice at an intersection in Thembelihle when they were attacked. The assailants remain unknown.

In a separate incident in Thembelihle, a 36-year-old man was robbed of his belongings, including a cellphone and bicycle, and shot dead.

“Five cases of murder and two of attempted murder are opened for investigation,” said the commissioner’s office.

Meanwhile, five men were shot dead in two separate incidents in Khayelitsha, Cape Town.

Three men aged 34, 36, and 50, were shot on the corners of Nyebelele and Ntango Streets in Site C around 20:30 by unknown suspects, said Western Cape police spokesperson Colonel Andre Traut.

The motive for the shooting is unknown.

Traut said that in an unrelated incident, two men in their 30s were shot and killed in Tutu Avenue, Makhaza in Harare, around 21:35.

One of the men died on the scene, while the other died shortly after being admitted to the hospital.

According to News24, Police believe that the incident may well be linked to the drug trade in the area, but this will be established as the investigation unfolds.

Earlier in the week, seven suspects were arrested for a shooting in Alexandra that claimed the lives of six people.

A gang allegedly went on a robbing and shooting spree within the township. During the arrests, police found firearms, empty magazines and ten cellphones.