Police officers at a crime scene in Atteridgville Tshwane
Five people believed to be foreign spaza shop owners died after being shot in Atteridgeville, Tshwane on Wednesday afternoon.
“We are aware that the shooting incident might be related to acts of extortion though we can’t definitely confirm that, because at the moment investigations into this matter are still ongoing,” said SAPS’ General Thine in an interview with the media shortly after the shooting incident in Atteridgeville.
He however gave the residents of Atteridgeville assurance that they will be seeing more visible policing in the area and that massive police deployments are planned for Atteridgeville this coming weekend.
“Permanent police vehicles have also been deployed to Atteridgeville to make sure that they are able to react swiftly whenever there are criminal activities taking place in the area,” he said.
Thine admitted that incidents of extortion were rife in Tshwane and that several people were arrested recently after being found with an amount of R20 000 that had apparently been extorted from foreign-owned spaza shops.
“We are saying to the community and the spaza shop owners that they must come forward with information regarding acts of extortion as we need to take statements and link evidence and if they don’t come forward then it is going to be difficult to link suspects to acts of extortion but as crime intelligence we are dealing decisively with these kinds of crime and cracking such cases,” emphasised Thine.
A statement released by SAPS spokesperson Brenda Muridili reads as follows:
“The provincial Commissioner of the police in Gauteng Lieutenant General Tommy Mthombeni has mobilised resources following a shooting incident that happened in Atteridgeville, Tshwane on 21 January 2026 at around 13h15 whereby five people were shot and killed outside a tuck shop at Jeffsville by unknown assailants and the victims were all declared dead by paramedics at the scene.”
“Witnesses are currently being interviewed to determine circumstances that led to the shooting and a case of five counts of murder will be registered and the motive for the attack will form part of the investigation,” added Muridili.
This latest shooting in Atteridgeville comes after 12 people, including children, were shot and killed late last year at a tavern that was situated at the Saulsville hostel next to Atteridgeville.
Tshwane Talks readers have been able to read stories in this publication for free for over two years now. We still want our readers to access our stories for free, but we are asking those among our readers who can afford it to contribute at least R30 a month to cover some of the costs of publishing this independent, non-aligned online newspaper which gives a voice to all sectors of society irrespective of race, colour, creed, religion, or political affiliation. You may make your contribution by depositing at least R30 a month into Tshwane Talks' bank account. Details are as follows:
Bank Details
Bank: Standard Bank
Account Number: 10225548834
Account Type: Cheque Account