Three men in their twenties were gunned down in an attack at the Lotus informal settlement in Gugulethu on Tuesday evening, in what community leaders suspect was the latest escalation in an ongoing extortion war plaguing the area.
The victims were shot dead at about 18:30 when unknown assailants stormed their shack and opened fire before fleeing the scene, according to Gugulethu police who have opened a triple murder investigation.
Provincial police spokesperson Colonel André Traut confirmed that detectives from the Provincial Serious and Violent Crime Unit confirmed the incident.
“The motive for the attack is yet to be determined, and detectives are pursuing all leads to trace and apprehend those responsible,” Traut said. “The Western Cape police management strongly condemns this senseless act of violence and has prioritised the investigation to ensure that the perpetrators are brought to justice.”
A community leader, speaking on condition of anonymity, described disturbing details about the victims’ alleged involvement in local extortion activities targeting Somali-owned businesses.
“According to reports I received, the victims were in their shack when unknown men entered and shot them dead,” the leader said. “People in the area knew the deceased and said they were part of a group collecting money from Somali shops.”
The killings appear to be the latest in a wave of violence that has terrorised the Lotus settlement, which the community leader described as “one of the most dangerous areas in Gugulethu.”
The Tuesday shooting follows another deadly incident just five days earlier, when a Somali shop owner was killed and another injured in what authorities suspect was also an extortion-related attack on 2 October.
“We have a serious problem with carjacking and extortion here. We are being terrorised by extortionists,” the community leader said, painting a picture of a settlement under siege from criminal gangs.
The recent spate of violence highlights the growing crisis of extortion rackets targeting foreign-owned businesses across Cape Town’s townships, where shop owners face regular demands for “protection money” from criminal syndicates.
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