Two men, aged 20 and 21, were shot and killed during an Inanda shootout with police in KwaZulu-Natal on Tuesday night.
Two suspects killed in Inanda shootout
The suspects had been wanted for the murder of a police officer, attempted murder, and multiple house and armed robberies.
According to KZN police, officers acted on intelligence — meaning specific information about the suspects’ location — which led them to a house in the Maplazini area of Inanda.
Officers announced themselves and ordered the occupants to open the door, but the suspects fired at them from inside the house. Police returned fire, killing both men. No officers were injured.
Police said a firearm was found in the suspects’ possession. The weapon’s serial number — which normally identifies a gun — had been filed off. Removing or altering a serial number is illegal in South Africa and is often done to make a weapon harder to trace.
KZN’s rising number of police-related deaths
The incident forms part of a broader pattern in the province where suspects are frequently killed during police operations. Official data shows that in the year between July 2023 and July 2024, an average of nine suspects per month were killed by police in the province — a total of 107 people.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) said this makes KZN the province with the highest number of killings by police action in the country. The figures were provided in a written reply by now-suspended Police Minister Senzo Mchunu to a parliamentary question.
DA Member of Parliament Mzamo Billy said deadly force should not become the default method for police to confront crime in the province. He urged the government to explore the use of body-worn cameras to record police-public interactions.
“Cameras don’t lie. Their purpose is two-fold – to ensure there is no police brutality or overexertion of authority and to review footage to establish where more SAPS training and resources are needed,” Billy said.
Despite a 2019 statement from then-Police Minister Bheki Cele that body cameras were being prioritised, no such devices have been procured or deployed to date.
The Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID), the body responsible for investigating police conduct, has not responded to repeated requests for comment on the rising number of suspects killed by police in KZN.