Twelve people have died and two were wounded after three gunmen opened fire on a house party in KwaMakhutha township’s Ziko area, south of Durban, late on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, and South African police are now hunting the attackers. Fourteen people — 13 men and one woman believed to be pregnant — were inside the small house when the three armed men arrived shortly before 11 p.m. local time and began shooting, police and provincial officials said as they set out the first details on Wednesday, September 23. Ten of the guests died at the scene; two of the four taken to hospital later died, bringing the toll to 12 by Friday, September 25. KwaZulu-Natal Premier Thamsanqa Ntuli said the community had been left “in profound shock and grief.”
What Investigators Found
The attackers carried pistols and rifles, forced everyone into a single room and then began shooting. The gunmen set fire to a car belonging to one of the victims before they fled. Sheets covered the bodies outside the house until stretcher crews lifted them into pathology vans. Forensic teams went over the property while other officers ran tape around the neighborhood. Some of the victims had previously come to the attention of Crime Intelligence over suspected illegal activities, Colonel Robert Netshiunda, the provincial police spokesperson, said, pointing to preliminary investigations. Police declined to elaborate, citing the ongoing investigation, and added that a feud between rival groupings could not be ruled out.
A 72-Hour Manhunt
By Wednesday, no arrests had been made. The KwaZulu-Natal provincial commissioner was ordered by Acting National Police Commissioner Lt-Gen Puleng Dimpane to activate a tracking operation lasting 72 hours to run down the three suspects, and police said they believed they were following a “promising lead.” Dimpane has led the police service in an acting capacity since April, when Ramaphosa suspended National Commissioner Fannie Masemola over charges linked to a police contract. Ntuli, who visited the scene, urged residents to come forward with anything that might help. Drug-dealing and illegal firearms are known problems in the largely poor community he described, where the homes stand a few meters apart with no fences between them.
A Pattern of Mass Shootings
South Africa has one of the highest murder rates in the world, with roughly 60 people killed every day in a population of about 62 million. SAPS recorded 5,427 homicides nationally between April and June, a 5.9 percent drop from the same period the year before. That still works out to an average of nearly 60 a day, and the daily average for the January-to-March quarter was 58. Most homicides are committed with guns, and police and researchers have long pointed to the sheer volume of illegal firearms in circulation.
A string of similar attacks preceded the Durban-area killings. Multiple shooters killed 12 people in June in an informal settlement in Cleveland, a Johannesburg suburb, where police said some victims were found at what looked like a processing center for illegal mining. In December, gunmen killed 12 people at an illegal drinking spot in Saulsville, near Pretoria, and 10 at a tavern in Bekkersdal, west of Johannesburg. An entire family of 10 — including a 13-year-old boy — was gunned down at home near Pietermaritzburg in a 2023 attack in KwaZulu-Natal.
A Broader Security Crisis
The murder rate has run high for decades, but mass shootings tied to organized crime have become a sharper source of public fear, feeding demands that the government dismantle criminal networks — among them the contract-killing operations that security analysts regard as a major driver of such attacks. Analysts also point to too few officers patrolling crime hot spots and a slow-moving justice system, along with allegations, still under investigation, that senior police officials have ties to organized crime.
President Cyril Ramaphosa used his February State of the Nation address to announce that he would deploy the army in support of police, calling organized crime “the most immediate threat to our democracy, our society and our economic development.” He named the Western Cape and Gauteng, the Eastern Cape was added days later, and the final authorization in March sent 2,200 soldiers to five provinces — the Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, North West and Western Cape. KwaZulu-Natal, where Tuesday’s shooting took place, was not among them. Separately, Police Minister Senzo Mchunu has been on special leave since July 2025 while a judicial commission of inquiry, whose deadline has been extended to January 2027, examines allegations that he interfered with organized-crime investigations, which he denies. Firoz Cachalia is serving as acting police minister.
As of Friday, September 25, no arrests had been made, and police had not confirmed a motive.
