The North West provincial government on Tuesday condemned the ”racist” killing of four people at the Skielik informal settlement.
A 17-year-old was arrested in connection with the deaths on Tuesday after police launched a manhunt on Monday.
”We must not allow this racist attack to reverse the progress we have made since 1994 to build a united and non-racial society,” said Cornelius Monama, spokesperson for the provincial government.
Three people including a three-month-old baby died on Monday. A fourth person died at the Rustenburg Hospital on Tuesday.
”The North West provincial government condemns in the strongest terms this barbaric and cowardly act. We call on all our people not to take the law into their own hands,” he said.
The South African Broadcasting Corporation reported earlier on Tuesday that the killings were racially motivated.
Between 600 and 700 people blocked the main road to Swartruggens earlier on Tuesday in protest against the killings.
The 17-year-old suspect’s father was arrested on Tuesday morning as police believed the gun linked to the deaths belonged to him.
”He [the youth] went to a farm in the area from where he called his father and informed him where he was, and then he was arrested at the farm,” said police spokesperson Superintendent Louis Jacobs.
The Democratic Alliance and the Congress of South African Trade Unions condemned reports that the killings were racially motivated.
The youth would probably appear in court on Wednesday or Thursday, said Jacobs. — Sapa