Fourteen suspects arrested for Mitchells Plain gang shootings that left five dead, seven injured
The Mitchells Plain gang violence that left five dead and seven injured occurred in Beacon Valley, Tafelsig and Town Centre on Thursday, 3 July 2025, during the school holiday when many children were playing outside and in harm's way.
Mitchells Plain is among the red zone areas in the Cape Flats and to protect the safety of officials, ambulance crews are not allowed to enter red zone areas without a South African Police Service (SAPS) escort.
According to police spokesperson Brigadier Novela Potelwa, the shooting started at about 12.30pm on Thursday.
'Five people were shot at in a tuckshop in Beacon Valley. Two died and three were injured. Also in Beacon Valley, four more people were shot at in another tuckshop. One died, while three others were wounded.
'In the third shooting incident, another person was shot and injured in Beacon Valley. In two other shooting incidents that occurred in Tafelsig and Town Centre, two fatalities were recorded respectively,' Potelwa said.
Residents were terrified and took to social media to call on the police to intervene and quell the violence.
All the incidents, Novela said, were believed to be gang-related, and the police immediately initiated a manhunt for the suspects, with multidisciplinary deployments bolstering their efforts to prevent further violence and to arrest those responsible for these heinous acts.
Norman Jantjies, the chairperson of the Mitchells Plain Community Policing Forum (CPF), has stated several times that residents are under siege and that the violence is affecting households throughout the neighbourhood.
His calls for urgent collaboration between law enforcement agencies and residents to fight the problem of gang violence appear to have been fruitless.
Successful hunt for suspects
Elaborating on the hunt for the suspects, police spokesperson Captain FC van Wyk on Friday stated that from 2pm on Thursday to 2am on Friday, SAPS members were divided into teams, and areas such as Beacon Valley, Tafelsig and Portlands were targeted, and several houses were searched.
According to Van Wyk, a total of 43 houses suspected of being affiliated with gang members were searched. At one house, a licensed 9mm Norinco pistol and ammunition were confiscated.
'Fourteen suspects aged between 20 and 39 were arrested for murder and attempted murder, and a 30-year-old suspect was arrested for the illegal possession of ammunition.
'Five firearms and an assortment of ammunition were confiscated, and seven suspects aged between 17 and 46 were arrested for the possession of unlicensed firearms and prohibited firearms and ammunition,' he said.
Western Cape Police Commissioner Lieutenant-General Thembisile Patekile applauded the SAPS members and said that these operations would continue until he was satisfied that the perpetrators had been brought to book and calm had been restored to the area.
Meanwhile, City of Cape Town Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security JP Smith condemned the incidents and emphasised that the shootings in Mitchells Plain were a direct threat to the safety and wellbeing of communities.
The Safety and Security Directorate, Smith said, was working closely with the SAPS and additional staff members had been deployed to the area on Thursday, including officers attached to the Law Enforcement Advancement Plan, the Metro Police Tactical Response Unit and the Traffic Services' Roadblock Unit.
All the suspects are due to appear in the Mitchells Plain Magistrate's Court on Monday, 7 July, on their respective charges. DM
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