Two men were shot dead at the notorious Glebelands Hostel in Umlazi, south of Durban, on Sunday hours ahead of the first day of the trial of a police officer and seven alleged hitmen accused of conducting a scheme to force money from hostel residents.

"They sustained multiple gunshot wounds on the body and head," said police spokesperson Colonel Thembeka Mbele on Monday.

The victims were aged 29 and 41. 

They were shot on Sunday night at 21:00 by "unknown suspects" and police were investigating.

This comes after a shooting on January 18 in which a 52-year-old man was killed. 

The hostel accommodates around 22 000 people and was part of an investigation by advocate Marumo Moerane into political killings in KwaZulu-Natal.

News24 reported previously that during a visit in February Major General Dumezweni Chiliza – a former Umlazi cluster commander – submitted that the killings at the hostel were not political, but the result of fighting over control of the leasing of beds.

Since 2014, 106 people have been killed at the hostel, where the average income is between R266 and R1 600. 

The trial of the "Glebelands Eight" – the seven alleged hitmen and cop kingpin – resumed in the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Pietermaritzburg on Monday.