An ANC volunteer with a reputation for being "very vocal" about many issues was shot dead in front of her young son in Cape Town's Valhalla Park on Wednesday morning, councillor Delmaine Cottee said on Thursday.

While the details around her murder were still sketchy, Cottee said Cynthia Stulo had been walking her 7-year-old son to school and had chatted to elderly neighbours in her community.

The next thing, her child ran back to the neighbours to say her mother was in danger, and shots were fired.

"There's my mother laying dead there," the traumatised child had said.

Stulo, also known as Mimi, is understood to have been shot several times in the head. The motive for the murder was not clear.

Theories swirling around the community include that she may have been a witness in a criminal case or that she may have been killed for her vocal opposition to a housing project awarded in Cape Town.

Ludicrous

She had also apparently been told it was her fault that the SA National Defence Force had come to Cape Town to assist the police, as they attempt to flush out criminals and gangsters from "hotspot" suburbs.

Cottee said this was because her husband was in the military, but this theory was rejected by others as ludicrous.

Her husband, meanwhile, was on his way back to Cape Town, while the children had already been moved to another location for their own safety.

ANC spokesperson Dennis Cruywagen extended condolences to her family, and noted that Valhalla Park was a "highly-contested" area.

Captain FC van Wyk said that, according to reports to the police, the 46-year-old woman was walking with her 7-year-old daughter in Agste Laan, Valhalla Park, at 07:30.

A man walked up to her and shot her dead.

"The suspect then fled the scene on foot. The motive for the incident is unknown. We cannot confirm that the incident is gang related," said Van Wyk.

A murder case has been opened.

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