Zimbabwean footballer Divine Lunga escapes unharmed after Johannesburg car is shot at, police investigate

A Zimbabwean footballer, Divine Lunga, survived a gun attack in Johannesburg after his car was shot at in the inner-city suburb of Hillbrow, South African police said. The incident occurred on Sunday, according to BBC World, which reported police were investigating the case as an attempted murder and that no arrests had been made at the time of publication.

BBC World identified Lunga as being 31 years old and described him as having escaped unharmed. Police said they were treating the attack as a criminal investigation rather than a sports-related incident, and officers were working to establish the circumstances that led to the shooting.

Local reporting cited by BBC said Lunga was driving through Hillbrow when a gunman opened fire on his vehicle. BBC also reported that South African newspaper The Citizen said Lunga was on his way to church with his younger brother when the attack happened, and that the pair were in the car at the time.

BBC further reported that The Citizen said the shooter appeared to mistake Lunga for an undercover police officer. South African police did not immediately confirm that motive, and the details of what the assailant believed were not included in the official police account, according to the reporting.

The investigation is expected to focus on identifying the suspect or suspects, locating possible witnesses, and determining how the shooting was carried out in a densely populated area. Johannesburg and other South African cities have faced persistent public-safety pressures, and shootings involving civilians and public figures often trigger broader scrutiny of neighborhood crime patterns and policing resources.

Lunga is reported to play for both Zimbabwe’s national team and the South African club Mamelodi Sundowns. After the attack, there were no immediate official statements from police about any injuries, hospital treatment, or additional charges beyond the attempted-murder probe, and BBC said no arrests had been made.

South African authorities have not published additional information on whether forensic work, surveillance video, or phone or vehicle records are being used in the case. The next procedural step, as with other attempted-murder investigations, would be follow-on questioning and possible arrests once investigators can link the shooting to specific suspects and establish intent and target selection under South African criminal law.