{"id":2031372,"date":"2026-07-07T10:13:21","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T07:13:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2031372"},"modified":"2026-07-07T10:13:21","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T07:13:21","slug":"divine-lunga-zimbabwean-football-star-survives-south-africa-gun-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2031372","title":{"rendered":"Divine Lunga: Zimbabwean football star survives South Africa gun attack"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/1024\/branded_news\/fd62\/live\/90590610-79de-11f1-a400-b302bc872d47.jpg”]<\/p>\n

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\"ISIISI Photos via Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Divine Lunga helped Mamelodi Sundowns win the African Champions League in May<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Zimbabwean footballer Divine Lunga has survived a gun attack in Johannesburg, South African police have said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The football star, 31, was driving in the inner city suburb of Hillbrow on Sunday when his car was shot at by an unknown gunman, according to local reports. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Lunga, who plays for both Zimbabwe’s national football team and top South African club Mamelodi Sundowns, escaped unharmed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Crime is a major problem in South Africa and the country has one of the highest murder rates in the world.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Police spokesperson Captain Tintswalo Sibeko said they were investigating a case of attempted murder but that no arrests had been made.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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She did not provide further details, but South African publication The Citizen said that Lunga was on his way to church with his younger brother when they came under attack.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The duo were driving through Hillbrow when the suspect opened fire on their car, apparently mistaking him for an undercover police officer. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Lunga has played 21 times for Zimbabwe’s national team and was part of the team’s squad for the Fifa World Cup 2026 qualifiers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The defender joined Mamelodi Sundowns in 2021 and has helped them win four domestic league titles,<\/b> as well as their second African Champions League in May.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Neither team has commented on the shooting but the Warriors, as Zimbabwe’s national team is known, has posted a picture of Lunga in a prayer position with a short caption, reading “In God we trust” alongside his name.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"To<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Go to <\/i>BBCAfrica.com<\/i> for more news from the African continent.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Follow us on Twitter <\/i>@BBCAfrica<\/i>, on Facebook at <\/i>BBC Africa<\/i> or on Instagram at <\/i>bbcafrica<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c1my1rvy28do”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/1024\/branded_news\/fd62\/live\/90590610-79de-11f1-a400-b302bc872d47.jpg”] ISI Photos via Getty Images Divine Lunga helped Mamelodi Sundowns win the African Champions League in May Zimbabwean footballer Divine Lunga has survived a gun attack in Johannesburg, South African police have said. The football star, 31, was driving in the inner city suburb of Hillbrow on Sunday when his car was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[35,226],"class_list":["post-2031372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-bbc-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2031372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2031372"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2031372\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2031372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2031372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2031372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}