President Cyril Ramaphosa urges action following tavern murders

10 July 2022

President Cyril Ramaphosa has expressed his condolences at the deaths by shooting of 15 people in a Soweto tavern and the murder of four people under similar circumstances in Pietermaritzburg.

President Ramaphosa offers his sympathies to the families of the people who have lost their lives in the two incidents, and wishes injured survivors a speedy recovery.

The President also urges security agencies and community members to work together to urgently bring the perpetrators of the two attacks to book.

The President said: “As a nation, we cannot allow violent criminals to terrorise us in this way, regardless of where such incidents may occur.

“As government, citizens and structures of civil society we must all work together even more closely to improve social and economic conditions in communities, reduce violent crime and stamp out the illicit circulation of firearms.

“Every single violent death is unacceptable and worrying, and killings on the scale we have seen in Soweto, Pietermaritzburg and previously Khayelitsha must spur us into a collective effort to build communities and make South Africa an unsafe place for criminals.”

Issued by Vincent Magwenya, Spokesperson to the President, 11 July 2022