Less than 48 hours after two men were shot and killed at a men’s hostel in KwaMashu, another two men were found dead on Wednesday morning.
Provincial police spokesperson, Lieutenant Colonel Nqobile Gwala said the bodies of two males were found at Qhakaza area, KwaMashu Men's Hostel at around 6am.
The police said the victims were aged 20 and 30.
“It is alleged that two bodies were found on the side of the road with multiple gunshot wounds on the body.”
Gwala said it is believed the victims’ vehicle, firearm and cellphones were taken.
The motive for the shooting is unknown and Gwala said a double murder docket was being investigated by KwaMashu SAPS.
ALS Paramedics Garrith Jamieson said paramedics arrived on scene and found the victims had sustained multiple gunshot wounds to their upper body.
“There was nothing more paramedics could do for them and they were declared dead on the scene.”
Jamieson said it is alleged the men were hijacked during the course of the night.
“However, this could not be confirmed.”
In the other shooting incident, two men were gunned down at a men’s hostel in Kholwa Road in KwaMashu at around 5pm on Monday.
Gwala said it was alleged that an unknown suspect opened fire at two men who were outside a hostel room.
“The suspect proceeded inside the house and opened fire towards a 20-year-old who was in the kitchen,” Gwala said.
“Two of men were declared dead and one was rushed to the local clinic for medical attention.”
Speaking on the increased levels of gun violence in Durban in recent months, human rights activist Mary de Haas said the question needed to be asked as to where the firearms are coming from.
This, she said, was the job of the police and crime intelligence.
“There has to be stricter gun regulation, there are just too many guns on the streets.”
Another criminologist said KwaZulu-Natal has been branded as a hub and capital city of gun violence for decades, without any sign of slowing down.
“This is a continuing worrying factor, with limited repercussions,” said Professor Witness Maluleke, a Rural Criminologist, University of Limpopo, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice.
“Some of the obvious contributory factors to the high spate of gun violence in this province can be geared towards lawlessness, easy accessibility to dangerous weapons, disobeying the rule of law, inclusive to the toothless criminal justice system (CJS), social ills and normalising violence, among others.”
He said a lasting remedy to this situation requires a multidisciplinary approach, involving every societal stakeholder, “and accepting that our CJS failed in all their attempts and they cannot win the war against gun violence in KZN, specifically, and other provinces, in general”.
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