By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Police have arrested another person in connection with the deadly shooting spree in Alexandra this week, bringing a total number of people arrested to eight.
Gauteng police commissioner Lieutenant General Elias Mawela said those arrested so far were directly and indirectly linked to the murders of six people.
Mawela was addressing residents of Alexandra during a visit by Police Minister Bheki Cele and other top brass.
He said a team of detectives had worked “around the clock” to arrest the eighth suspect.
It is alleged that the accused went on a robbing and shooting spree in the area.
Arresting officers found them with stolen cellphones, ammunition and firearms.
The six victims included Alex FM music compiler Joshua Mbatha and taxi driver Simon Malovhela.
The eight accused are expected to appear in court on Monday.
Cele has promised that a “special team” will be appointed to fast-track cold cases in Alexandra.
“There are outstanding cases. The commissioners, both provincial and national, will send a special team to be able to crack all the crimes here and arrest all the criminals. I did see the figures and the statistics; they are not very good,” he said.
“There are a lot of withdrawals… there are a lot of cases being investigated for a long time.
“It is important that if you commit a crime, you get arrested quickly so that people can realise that they have no business to commit crime. The community at large must also be assured that police respond,” Cele said.
Over the weekend, five people were shot and two injured in separate incidents in Thembelihle informal settlement in Lenasia.
Preliminary investigation suggests that a group of men was playing dice on a street corner, at approximately 7:30pm on Saturday, when they were attacked by unknown assailants who shot at them, the authorities said.
“Four people were certified dead on the scene on Saturday while two people were taken to the nearest medical care centre after sustaining gunshot wounds, “the police said on Sunday.
In a separate incident also in Thembelihle, a 36-year-old man who appeared to have been robbed of his belongings, including a mobile phone and a bicycle, was found shot dead, they added.
Police said that the motive for the shootings cannot be confirmed at this stage.
Meanwhile in the Western Cape province, police have launched an investigation into the circumstances of a triple murder on Saturday night in Khayelitsha township. A fourth murder was an unrelated incident, Colonel Andre Traut said.