JOHANNESBURG, July 13 — The death toll from two weekend bar shootings in South Africa that shocked the country climbed to 20 yesterday after a victim died in hospital, police said yesterday.

The latest death came after a shooting at a bar in Soweto township near Johannesburg early on Sunday, taking the toll of that incident to 16 victims.

Another four people died at a tavern in the eastern city of Pietermaritzburg in KwaZulu-Natal province after two men fired indiscriminately at customers on Saturday.

Police have arrested two people in connection with the incident.

Investigators are working to establish a motive and arrest the perpetrators of the Soweto shooting, police said in a statement.

"Several shooters” armed with AK-47 assault rifles committed the Soweto killings, according to preliminary findings.

Shootings are common in South Africa, which has one of the world’s highest murder rates, fuelled by gang violence and alcohol.

But the apparently random murders at the weekend have mystified investigators.

President Cyril Ramaphosa denounced the weekend violence as "unacceptable”. — AFP