An 11-year-old boy is said to have shot and killed a farm worker while attempting to shoot at guinea fowls on a farm in South Africa, police say.
According to the police, the child “accidentally discharged” the firearm, though the exact circumstances of the shooting are still under investigation.
His 43-year-old father has been arrested and is expected to be charged with negligent handling of a firearm. The two are due to appear in court on Monday, October 13, 2025.
Police said they were alerted to the shooting and, on arrival at the scene, discovered the body of a man said to be in his 30s lying on his side with a gunshot wound. He was declared dead at the scene.
The Saturday, October 11, 2025, shooting in Thabazimbi, Limpopo province, has renewed concern over firearm safety and parental responsibility in the country. The firearm was seized as evidence.
“This heartbreaking incident serves as a reminder that firearms must be handled with the utmost care and stored securely at all times,” Limpopo police chief Thembi Hadebe said.
He added that parents and guardians have a responsibility to ensure that “children do not have access to firearms under any circumstances”.
Local media reports that the incident has deeply shocked the local farming community and raised public concern about the risks of children accessing weapons in rural households.
Earlier in October 2025, police said they had opened a murder charge against an eight-year-old boy after he fatally shot his seven-year-old cousin with his father’s firearm in Eastern Cape province.
His 48-year-old father was charged with failure to safeguard the firearm.
The gun incidents come days after South African opposition politician Julius Malema was found guilty of illegal possession of a gun and firing it in public, offences which carry a minimum sentence of 15 years in prison.
In 2018, a video emerged showing the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader using a semi-automatic rifle to fire several shots in the air during his party’s fifth anniversary celebrations held in the country’s Eastern Cape province.
He was charged alongside his former bodyguard Adriaan Snyman, who was acquitted.
Malema was convicted of hate speech less than two months ago and often lashes out at the white minority in a country where, 31 years after apartheid ended, racial tensions still run high.
