South Africa reels from spate of mass shootings
Focus on Africa

South Africa reels from spate of mass shootings

B2Upper-intermediateSeptember 29, 202622 min

South Africa is reeling from a series of mass shootings that have left dozens of people dead in less than a week near three of South Africa's biggest cities. One attack happened on Saturday evening when eight gunmen stormed a bar near Johannesburg and opened fire on customers killing 18 people. A few hour later, 10 people were killed in a separate shooting outside an entertainment venue near Cape Town. Police say while robbery appears to be a primary motive, they have not ruled out turf wars between illegal mining groups. And one man is making school desks out...

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Hello there, I'm Charles Gittonga with Focus on Africa.

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Johannesburg and Cape Town, South Africa in the last one week.

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B2 · Upper-intermediate

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A1 19%A2 35%B1 28%B2 13%C1 4%
  • 83% of the words are B1 or easier.
  • 173 words a minute: natural, fairly fast speech.
  • 103 harder words (B2 and up) in the whole episode.

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0:00

Hello there, I'm Charles Gittonga with Focus on Africa. At least 39 people have been killed in three separate incidents of mass shooting near Durban, Johannesburg and Cape Town, South Africa in the last one week. What's behind the spate of killings?

0:21

It looks like it's happening all over the country and I'm sure even the security forces, the police and the government are not sure what is happening, why so many mass shootings in a short space of time. And we hear what inspired Wanganean entrepreneur to tackle a major environmental problem by

0:41

turning plastic waste into school desks. I grew up with asthmatic allergies. I've had challenges with people burning plastic waste and also with dust. And over the years when I look in the communities, I see a lot of problems.

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