An explosion at a shebeen in Jan Kempdorp on Sunday, which claimed one life and injured thirteen others, underscores SAPS’s inability to address growing levels of violent crime at liquor outlets in the Northern Cape.
This has prompted the Democratic Alliance (DA) to call for the implementation of a crime prevention strategy at shebeens across the province.
After the power was allegedly tampered with at the shebeen, and the electricity cut, an object was thrown onto a fire which the victims were socializing around. This triggered an explosion in which children were reportedly also injured.
Jan Kempdorp police have confirmed that they are investigating a case of murder and attempted murder, following the explosion. I have also been in contact with the Provincial Police Commissioner, Lieutenant General Koliswa Otola, about the weekend’s attack.
Despite being the province with the smallest population, the 4th Quarterly crime statistics for 2024/25, placed the Northern Cape alongside provinces like Gauteng, Kwa-Zulu Natal and Free State, for having the most attempted murders at places like shebeens, taverns and night clubs. The Northern Cape was also the only province to record increases in murder and contact crimes over the last quarter.
It is disturbing that illegal shebeens are allowed to continue operating and that minors are permitted within these illegal liquor outlets. The lack of progress made in the murder case of a shebeen owner in Jan Kempdorp, in December last year, is also worrying.
If we are to prevent a scourge of deadly crime sprees at shebeens in the Northern Cape, like the mass tavern killings increasingly experienced in other provinces, then SAPS must act now.
I will ask questions in parliament about initiatives by the Northern Cape MEC for Safety, Limakatso Koloi, in collaboration with Lt Gen Otola, to shut down illegal shebeens and implement a crime prevention strategy for taverns. The DA will also reiterate the need for police stations, in places like Jan Kempdorp, to be better equipped to be able to fight crime, and for the prevention of this kind of crime through improved crime intelligence at a local level.
Our residents deserve a police service that is adequately resourced to act against all forms of criminality, and keep people safe, wherever they go.