Eight people were fatally shot in a shebeen in the Marikana informal settlement in Philippi East on Saturday, January 17, in an extortion-linked attack. Residents attribute the violence to refusals to pay protection fees. Two suspects were arrested on Monday as part of a local extortion group.
The attack occurred shortly after midnight around 12:15 a.m. when gunmen stormed a shebeen and opened fire on patrons, according to police. “This is what happens when shebeen owners refuse to pay extortion money — they end up dead,” a terrified resident told Daily Maverick.
Marikana has endured similar violence before: on September 29, 2017, 11 people were killed, and three days earlier, seven were murdered. An anonymous businessman from Khayelitsha, Gugulethu, Nyanga, and Philippi warned that even simple tasks like street markings come at a cost, with small businesses paying R500 to R1,000 monthly. He described heartbreak over abandoned stalls where women sold meat and vetkoek, now destroyed by refusals to pay.
The township economy, valued at R1 trillion per Standard Bank’s October 2025 report, supports 19.5% of South Africa’s employment, but 80% of businesses are unregistered and vulnerable to extortionists. Hubert Paulse, chairperson of the Cape Chamber of Commerce & Industry’s Safety and Security Portfolio, said extortion forces businesses to close or face violent retaliation.
Activists complain of unpunished syndicates, with known kingpins unidentified out of fear. EPWP workers are targeted, leading to service delays like refuse pile-ups. Nurse Mavis, a pseudonym, pays protection fees for safe commutes to work in Somerset West.
Police spokesperson Andrè Traut said protecting communities from extortion is a SAPS priority in the Western Cape, with a multidisciplinary Extortion Task Team making arrests. Between April 1, 2024, and mid-December 2025, 331 people were arrested for extortion-related offenses, but only one conviction secured. 571 cases are under investigation, with R10.7 million in economic losses. Second quarter 2025 statistics show 111 extortion cases, 50 related to protection fees.
Acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia announced an intelligence-driven multi-agency plan in October. In December 2025, two city law enforcement officers were arrested for corruption. Cape Town’s MMC for water and sanitation, Zahid Badroodien, and for safety and security, JP Smith, blamed extortion for service delays and the township crisis.
