Cape Town - Eastern Cape residents are living in fear after a number of recent mass murders in the province.
The residents say they are living in fear as the killings appear to be becoming a trend.
Last week, 17 people were gunned down in three separate incidents in Gqeberha and Bityi near Mthatha.
Speaking to SABC News, Eastern Cape's MEC of Community Safety spokesperson, Unathi Binqose, said the recent killings are largely happening from two regions, namely the OR Tambo and the Nelson Mandela Bay.
“If you go to the OR Tambo district you will find that these killings are related to family feuds that date back years and some are related to stock theft.
“When you go to the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro you will find that it’s a different story and the issue of drugs has been one of the leading factors including the issue of tender that has been happening for too long in both of these economic hubs of the province and we are looking at that as the department,” he said.
Binqose maintained that illegal firearms have been a major contributing factor in all of these cases especially in areas where they have been able to make arrests.
“It is that reason the MEC Xolile Nqatha committed himself that they need to cut the supply of illegal firearms and when we are done with that for those firearms that are already in the hands of the criminals to ensure that we disarm them.
“If we disarm them then we will be able to make a significant dent in these mass murders that are becoming a trend in the Eastern Cape.
“In October last year, we reported about a traffic officer who was shot and killed in the very same Nelson Mandela Bay Metro, and that woman was disarmed and her firearm is still out there or possibly in the hands of criminals,” Binqose said.
Binqose further added that criminals are forcefully taking firearms to legal owners and own them in order to commit crime in the communities using those guns.
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