WATCH: Cele not ruling out gang violence as motive in Khayelitsha shooting

Cape Town - Police Minister Bheki Cele said the police are not ruling out the possibility that gang violence may be the motive for a mass shooting in Khayelitsha on Sunday morning.

Cele together with the Deputy Police Minister Cassel Mathale, Deputy National Commissioner: Policing, Fannie Masemola and the Western Cape Police Commissioner, Yolisa Matakata visited the crime scene at Site B in Khayelitsha on Tuesday morning where a total of seven people were killed and seven victims injured, including a six-year-old child.

The visit comes as Cele condemned the heinous crime, particularly as the Khayelitsha shooting happened while the Western Cape's Operation Lockdown appeared to be yielding positive results relative to the thousands of arrests for serious and violent crime, as well as the recovery of scores of illegal firearms and drugs.

To this end, the cops have arrested a 32-year-old male suspect, who was expected to make an appearance in court today on charges of murder and attempted murder.

Cele has subsequently urged the multi-disciplinary investigating team to work around the clock and ensure that all suspects were apprehended given the preliminary evidence suggesting that there was more than one suspect.

Police minister Bheki Cele visits the house where seven people were killed and seven others wounded in Khayelitsha. Video: Sisonke Mlamla/Cape Argus

Minister of Police Bheki Cele with his deputy Cassel Mathale and Western Cape Police Commissioner Yolisa Matakata visited the shebeen where seven people were shot and killed. Picture: Phando Jikelo/African News Agency

Cele said crime prevention and combating operations such as "Lockdown" in the Western Cape and "O Kae Molao" in Gauteng, must be intensified and become a way of life.

"Equally, the approach to the recent safer festive season operations must become a benchmark in the South African Police Service where the same approach is adopted to fight crime throughout the year," Cele said.

He said there was no excuse for dropping the ball after the festive season.

"Police are constitutionally mandated to prioritise the safety of all citizens at all times, not only over the festive season," Cele said.

In response to the realisation that liquor was a common denominator in the contact crime category including murder, Cele instructed the police to join hands with respective state liquor authorities, and embark on operations that would see illegal liquor outlets shut down and the irresponsible consumption of liquor curbed.