Admin
06 Oct, 2025
Time to end the tavern killings and restore public safety
Statement by Zandile Phiri, Acting Secretary General of the United Democratic Movement The United Democratic Movement (UDM) is deeply disturbed by the latest mass shooting at a tavern in Zithobeni, Bronkhorstspruit, where five people were killed and six others injured on Saturday night. According to police reports, armed men stormed the establishment, disarmed a patron, and opened fire indiscriminately as people tried to flee for their lives. Over the past year, South Africa has witnessed a wave of similar tragedies that have turned ordinary social spaces into crime scenes. These include mass shootings in Mokokotlong informal settlement in Orange Farm, Pienaar outside Mbombela, TK's Tavern in Sebokeng in the Vaal, the Bloemfontein CBD, Umlazi township of Durban, and the Choba informal settlement in Tshwane. In each of these incidents, lives were lost in cold blood while families were left to grieve and communities to live in fear. This growing pattern of violence shows a country under siege, where heavily armed criminals act without restraint and the state appears powerless to stop them. Communities have every reason to feel abandoned. The right to safety and security enshrined in the Constitution has become meaningless when gunmen can walk into a tavern, home, or taxi rank and slaughter innocent people without fear of arrest or prosecution. The social fabric of our nation is being torn apart by unchecked criminality, poor policing, and the proliferation of illegal firearms. The UDM believes this is not merely a policing issue but a symptom of deeper systemic failure i.e. the collapse of local intelligence networks, the erosion of visible policing, and the absence of proactive crime prevention in vulnerable communities. South Africa urgently needs a coordinated national audit of firearms in circulation, including a focused review of lost, stolen, and unaccounted-for weapons from police, military, and private security stockpiles. This audit must be supported by forensic tracing of ballistic evidence, tighter control of firearm licensing systems, and an intelligence-driven effort to dismantle illegal gun trafficking networks. The goal is not to count weapons in criminal hands, but to close the loopholes that allow them to get there. The UDM calls for: 1. A national audit of illegal firearms and a comprehensive crackdown on gun smuggling and trafficking networks feeding this violence. 2. Dedicated tavern safety and compliance units within the SAPS to monitor and protect high-risk venues, working with local business and community policing forums. 3. Immediate deployment of intelligence-led operations to disrupt organised criminal networks that use taverns and shebeens as targets or recruitment hubs. 4. A cross-departmental safety strategy led by the Ministers of Police, Small Business Development, and Social Development to strengthen community resilience and ensure responsible management of social spaces. 5. Swift justice for the victims of these massacres through fast-tracked investigations and specialised prosecution teams. As a partner in the Government of National Unity, the UDM will continue to push for urgent and coordinated reforms in policing, intelligence, and firearm control. The safety of South Africans must be treated as a national priority, and every arm of the state must be mobilised to end this cycle of violence once and for all.
