An African National Congress councillor has been shot dead in Ulundi, KwaZulu-Natal police said on Monday.
“We can confirm that an ANC councillor was shot dead at his home on Sunday at 7pm,” Lt-Col Vincent Mdunge said.
He said a man knocked at the door soon after the councillor had returned home from a meeting in Nongoma. His son opened the door and a man asked to see the councillor.
“The man fired shots at him when he emerged. He tried to run into his bedroom but it was too late… he suffered multiple gunshot wounds and was declared dead at the scene.”
He said the motive for the shooting was not known and no arrest had been made. A case of murder was opened.
KwaZulu-Natal co-operative governance MEC Nomusa Dube said she was saddened by the councillor’s murder, identifying him as Makhosonke Msibi.
“According to the reports councillor Msibi had just returned home from his party’s recruitment campaign in Nongoma when an unknown gunman entered his house and shot him at point blank range in full view of his family members,” she said in a statement.
“We are deeply saddened by the brutal killing of one of the committed and tireless servants in the field of local government in the province,” she said.
The death of Msibi was a blow to the province’s democratic system of local government and the development of the Zululand district as a whole.
“We do not know the cause and the motive. We are, however, worried that the killing of councillors is becoming a disturbing trend, noting that it is not happening for the first time,” she said.
“If this cowardly use of violence was carried out with the intention to subvert the will of the people it will not succeed.” – Sapa
