Daily Maverick
Dailymaverick logo

South Africa

South Africa, Maverick News

One suspect arrested, 2 questioned over murder of 6 Soshanguve community patrollers

One suspect arrested, 2 questioned over murder of 6 Soshanguve community patrollers
Bheki C. Simelane
By Bheki C. Simelane
25 Mar 2025
Facebook
1
The death toll from the attack on a group of community patrollers in Soshanguve’s Marry Me informal settlement has risen to six.

One suspect has been arrested and two others are being questioned over the murder of six community patrollers in the Marry Me informal settlement in Soshanguve, Gauteng, on Saturday 22 March 2025.

Police Minister Senzo Mchunu announced the arrest during a visit to Soshanguve on Tuesday when he met the families of the deceased and injured patrollers. 

According to police, the patrollers died during a violent confrontation with a group of suspected criminals. The death toll was originally four with eight people injured. A fifth person died in hospital over the weekend and Mchunu confirmed on Tuesday morning that a sixth had died while being treated in hospital. 

The minister revealed that the arrested suspect is an undocumented Zimbabwean who was also found with an unlicensed firearm. 

The police’s 72-hour search for the suspects had been activated immediately following the killing. Investigators were still hard at work.

“At this particular stage, we have been informed that one person has been arrested just around here, like we suspected. We wouldn’t have suspected that someone would come from Mpumalanga or North West to do this,” said Mchunu, adding that police had believed the suspects lived in Marry Me.

“That person we know is a Zimbabwean, and this is a fact that we are conveying to you so that you can close the chapter.”

Police suspected that five suspects might have been involved in the incident and the search for more suspects was continuing.

“There are two other people who have been called in for questioning and they are being questioned as we speak. Police are following all the information and it has led them to these two people. Police will expand their search and they will not rest until they are satisfied that they have rounded up all the suspects,” the minister said.

“It is important also to point out that police said they also discovered a firearm, which was in the possession of the arrested suspect. That firearm is being tested in forensics to establish whether it was one of the firearms used during the incident. 

“This Zimbabwean is an undocumented Zimbabwean. In other words, he is in the country illegally. We are still going to go on in terms of where and how he got to South Africa in the first place. But it is confirmed beyond doubt that he is an undocumented foreigner.”

Regarding those still in hospital, Mchunu said: “We know that of the six other people who were undergoing treatment in hospital, two have been released and four remain in hospital.”

He said a motive had not been established yet. 

A police statement from Saturday described the attack: “Preliminary investigations suggest that at about 3am, a group of community-based patrollers were converging to continue with their patrols when they noticed five people on the street. When the group approached the five, a quarrel broke which ended with four dead and eight injured.”

Risks of community policing 


Gareth Newham from the Institute for Security Studies has explained that community policing forums (CPFs) have increasingly become involved in operational policing, such as patrols, outside of their oversight and accountability functions.

The patrollers in Soshanguve were not part of an official CPF but appear to have taken on a similar function, as have many others in communities such as Marry Me facing high levels of crime. 

While Mchunu condemned the killings in Soshanguve and encouraged more people to volunteer their services to protect their communities, Gauteng Community Policing Forum board executive chairperson TJ Masilela warned people against joining informal crime-prevention groups. 

“Communities need to avoid a situation where they just form their own informal community forums,” Masilela said. 

He told Daily Maverick that they encourage all volunteers who wish to protect their community to join the CPF so that they are protected by relevant legislation. 

Masilela said the Soshanguve CPF chairperson had disclosed that he had encouraged the deceased to join the CPF so that they would know when they would be deployed.

He added that those who join formal CPFs have insurance against injury or danger and can access resources and training. 

“We are trying to establish a better patroller management. It might not be 100%, but the CPF has proper structures.” 

Worrying trend


The killing of the community patrollers in Soshanguve follows a number of attacks on CPF and informal community safety forum members around the country:

  • In January 2025, a 53-year-old CPF member was killed at his Wentworth, Johannesburg, home. He was a Sector 4 CPF patroller in the area. Police discovered his body in the garden;

  • In November 2024, a CPF member was stabbed to death, allegedly by a 17-year-old teen in Mpatseni Trust in Masoyi, Mpumalanga;

  • In October 2024, six members of the CPF in Godini village, Qumbu, in the Eastern Cape, were killed and four were wounded when gunmen opened fire on them; and

  • In Alexandra, Johannesburg, in 2023, community patrol leader Thulani Zuma and three residents were killed and another seven injured when they were caught in a hail of bullets during a routine patrol. DM

Categories:

Tags: