By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
SA Police Service (SAPS) in the City of Tshwane are investigating an attempted murder case after 15 people were wounded during an indiscriminate shooting at a Soshanguve tavern.
The incident took place on Sunday night.
Gauteng police commissioner Elias Mawela revealed this on the back of his presentation of the fourth quarter crime statistics for the province to the portfolio committee on safety committee on Wednesday.
The province has recorded an overall increase in crime of over 2,000 counts.
Murder, attempted sexual assaults and cash-in-transit robberies are among the crimes highlighted in red in the latest crime report.
“We are investigating. General [Mbuso] Khumalo has put together a team of investigators, he will be supported by the provincial tracking team, to track down the suspect of this horrendous crime.
“The good thing is that the suspect made a mistake when he escaped because he also left for us crucial evidence which is going to assist us to track him down,” Mawela said.
This comes as police and the prosecuting authority have been criticised for their handling of the deadly Nomzamo Park tavern shootings in Soweto.
Charges were withdrawn against the suspects in the July 2022 mass shooting that claimed 16 lives.
Three other counts of murder were linked to the case, where three people were killed in the days leading to the massacre in an apparent turf war allegedly involving illegal miners.
Mawela insisted the police did their work, and that they still believe they have a solid case.
“Where we are seated, we are still confident that we got our people. All that we need to do is to close the gaps in what the court has said, then we will continue and bring them back.
“I want to assure the people of this province that the death of those 16 people was not in vain. Someone is going to account and one of those is the very same people that we brought to court.”