‘Where are the soldiers ?': Family of Jumpers mass shooting victim questions government response

A family member of one of 12 the victims killed in the mass shooting at the Jumpers informal settlement in Cleveland, Johannesburg, has blamed President Cyril Ramaphosa for the lack of a military presence in the area to combat crime.

The attack, which took place on Tuesday night, left 12 people dead and 10 others injured.

According to police spokesperson Colonel Dimakatso Nevhuhulwi, members of the South African Police Service (SAPS) responded to reports of a shooting at about 11.10pm.

Upon arrival, officers found multiple victims with gunshot wounds and emergency medical services were called to the scene.

Preliminary investigations indicate that more than 10 suspects, allegedly transported in a white Toyota Quantum, entered the settlement through different access points and opened fire at several locations before fleeing.

Eight men and three women were declared dead at the scene, while another man later died in hospital. 

Police have launched a manhunt, with detectives, crime intelligence officers and forensic experts investigating the attack.

No arrests have been made.

The nephew of one of the 12 people killed in the shooting described the brutal killing of her uncle and renewed calls for government action on illegal firearms and illegal mining.

“My uncle was just a person living a normal life, he was a hustler,” said the man, who asked not to be named.

“He was at a tavern when the shooting happened. I was at home and was called after the shooting. When I got there, they had killed my uncle brutally, and a woman was lying dead next to him.”

He said the violence had left her traumatised.

“It hurts so much that I have not slept since yesterday. I heard everything yesterday, the gunfire. I took my kids and wife and we got under the bed.”

He also questioned the source of the firearms and the government's response to crime in mining communities.

“My question is: where do these people get the guns to kill people? Why is our President (Cyril Ramaphosa) failing us? It has been six years of empty promises of taking us out of these shacks. He said he would deploy soldiers. Where are the soldiers now?”

In his State of the Nation Address (SONA) in February, Ramaphosa authorised the deployment of more than 2,000 members of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) to assist police in combating organised crime, gangsterism and illegal mining.

The operation is active in Gauteng, the Western Cape, the Eastern Cape, the Free State and North West, and is expected to continue until March 2027.

He linked the violence to illegal mining operations in the area.

“This is all because of illegal miners. We have so many illegal mines surrounding us. What is sad is that they hurt South Africans.”

He said the family did not know how they would afford funeral costs.

“We don’t even know how we will handle the burial expenses because we don't have money. We don’t have anyone to run to and seek help, it's very bad."

Meanwhile, Democratic Alliance (DA) ward councillor Neuren Pieterson told IOL News he understood the shooting to be linked to a factional dispute among illegal miners, commonly known as zama zamas.

“What I understand the motive is that there appears to be a faction of Zama Zama (illegal miners) that has split and it seems like there was a retaliation from the faction who does not have control of this illegal site.

“But they also seem to have, because the shooting was so indiscriminate, it seems like they were not targeting the faction that is holding this area, but just generally trying to sow fear and chaos in this community.”

He said many residents were not directly involved in illegal mining activities.

“Because a lot of the community that lives here are not directly involved in the illegal mining operations, because they've been living here for about 15 years and the Zama Zama operations probably started probably in the last five years. It's become a strong element in this community. So that appears to be the motive.”

Pieterson said violent incidents had become common in the area.

“Over the last year, I can remember at least four significant incidents involving loss of life. Even the community leader was murdered here in October last year.”

He said infrastructure upgrades, including the introduction of electricity, could help improve safety.

“What has happened is that, as you can see over there, there's an upgrade of the settlement by introducing electricity into the area. So that should hopefully improve the situation.”

However, he said the development had disrupted existing power structures within the settlement.

“So it's not suiting everybody's agenda in the informal settlements. You know, people don't like the light that's going to be shone on their activities. And in that way, there's a degree of pushback.

“I'm not sure that this particular incident is a pushback against the project. It appears to be more of a factional battle between Zama Zamas.

“But, in the past, there has been pushback against the project as well, because the project requires access lanes, more accessibility, which will help for police and emergency vehicles to access the community.”

He said creating access routes remained critical.

“So it's imperative that we create access lanes, which will accommodate the pylons and obviously accommodate the ability for police to patrol.”

Pieterson said the city had constructed the newly built shacks in the settlement.

“The city chose to build the shacks. The community in the past has, I've assisted them with a petition to get electricity. That petition was denied because of the layout of the area, and it needed to be formalised.”

He acknowledged concerns about how the project had been implemented.

“So there is a bit of a, not scandal, I forget the word now, of how this is being approached, because there's no formal township layout, which should be in place before a project like this is rolled out.”

Despite those concerns, he said electricity would improve residents' quality of life.

“Having said that, electricity does make a difference to people who are really living on the marginal edges of society. And there were about 480 applications approved for the electricity.

“However, there are probably about 3,000 people, 1,100 doors in this community.”

Pieterson said he was due to meet Gauteng MEC for Health Faith Mazibuko and management from the Cleveland police station on Wednesday afternoon to discuss the attack.

“So understandably, the community is traumatised by last night's event. Well, 12 people died here yesterday and others have been seriously injured.

“But beyond that, there was gunfire across the community with indiscriminate shooting into people's homes and random people just walking and going about their business. This was an armed, brutal attack. Actually, it was an ambush because they approached from two sides of the community. So there was nowhere to run and hide. The community is clearly still traumatised and they don't feel that this is over.”

He said residents had lost confidence in law enforcement.

“They don't trust the police. They don't feel that they are helping them. I'm going to express these concerns in front of the MEC. So they need to dive deeper into why this is so.

“I do understand that with the way the informal settlement is currently laid out, it's very, very difficult to exert any form of security. There have been security patrols here, community patrols before, that has, they feared for their safety.

“So until this project is allowed to open up the space, it's going to be very difficult for the community. And I'm sure the Zama Zamas don't want the space to be opened. So we've got conflicting interests.”

He said competing interests within the community continued to complicate efforts to improve conditions.

“There's the interest of the project trying to normalise the situation or trying to bring it to a more acceptable standard. And there's a large section of the population who want the status quo to stay. And they're going to fight back and push.”

When IOL News visited the scene on Wednesday morning, scores of residents, some still dressed in sleepwear, had gathered near the crime scene.

A heavy police presence remained in the area, while evidence of the shooting was still visible. 

Bloodstains could be seen in several locations, including taverns, and bullet casings remained scattered on the ground.

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