- No valuables were taken when eThekwini councillor Mnqobi Victor Molife was shot dead.
- His partner, who was with him at the time, was also left unharmed.
- The ANC has called for speedy DNA and ballistics processes so that Molife's killers can be brought to book.
No valuables were taken from and no harm was inflicted on the partner of eThekwini councillor Mnqobi Victor Molife when he was shot dead on the South Coast of KwaZulu-Natal on Sunday evening.
Police spokesperson Brigadier Jay Naicker said on Monday that Molife was with his partner in Mvutshini in Margate when three armed people forced their way into a room he was in.
"The victim was shot and fatally wounded. The suspects fled the scene without taking anything. The victim's partner was unharmed during the shooting. The motive for the killing is unknown at this stage. A case of murder was opened at the Margate police station for investigation."
eThekwini Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda said that since last year, there was an increase in the number of killings of public representatives in the city.
As a result, the leadership of the municipality sought the intervention of Police Minister Bheki Cele, he said.
He said:
In a statement that ANC provincial secretary Bheki Mtolo released, the party said Molife's life had been "cut short under very mysterious circumstances".
"The brutality and violent manner in which Councillor Molife's life has been taken away is something that can't be easily erased from our minds. It is even worse for the members of the family, especially the kids and the wife."
Mtolo added that the party supported the call for a team of ballistics experts to "ensure the gathering of evidence and to carry spot examinations of all firearms, including licensed firearms at all crime scenes".
"We are also suggesting that sophisticated technology must be utilised to conduct touch DNA and fingerprinting on firearms and dangerous weapons and other exhibits found at crime scenes."
Mtolo also called on ANC volunteers and members of the public "to be part of a united campaign against crime".
Mtolo said:
Molife was the Ward 99 councillor.
News24 previously reported that more than 300 councillors were killed in South Africa in the past few years and that 900 service delivery protests were held between August 2020 and January 2021.
The statistics were revealed during the South African Local Government Association's council of mayors conference in East London last week.
In June, global law enforcement network organisation, the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime (GI-TOC), labelled KwaZulu-Natal as the assassination hub of South Africa.
The report revealed that rampant violence due to ANC factional battles, organised crime and taxi violence was central to political killings in the province.
More than 2 700 assassinations and attempted assassinations were reported in the media, according to the report.
For three of the last six years, political assassinations in KwaZulu-Natal were as high or higher than all the other South African provinces combined.
KwaZulu-Natal also stood out among provinces for the highest frequency of politically linked assassinations.