{"id":85968,"date":"2023-07-21T05:45:55","date_gmt":"2023-07-21T05:45:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/editor.mediahack.co.za\/theoutlier\/?p=85968"},"modified":"2025-11-17T17:41:36","modified_gmt":"2025-11-17T17:41:36","slug":"murder-in-the-municipalities-20-ward-councillors-killed-in-22-months","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/2023\/07\/21\/murder-in-the-municipalities-20-ward-councillors-killed-in-22-months\/","title":{"rendered":"Murder in the municipalities: 21 councillors killed in 22 months"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Since October 2021, 73 councillors who sit on the country&#8217;s municipalities have died. Almost a third of them were shot dead<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The murder rate in South Africa is 45 per 100,000 people, it&#8217;s six times higher among ward councillors<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Nearly half of the murdered councillors were in KwaZulu-Natal municipalities<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>There are just over 4,500 councillors (including mayors) working in South Africa&#8217;s 257 municipalities. They are elected in municipal elections held every five years and their job is to ensure the delivery of services. Since just before the last election, which was held on 1 November 2021, 73 councillors have died \u2013 almost a third of them were shot dead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>South Africa\u2019s national murder rate for the year ending March 2023 was around 45 per 100,000 people. For ward councillors the murder rate is nearly six times higher: it&#8217;s closer to 260 murders per 100,000 for the same time period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-medium is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/editor.mediahack.co.za\/theoutlier\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2023\/08\/councillor-deaths-2023-08-04-600x600.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-86136\" width=\"450\" height=\"450\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In the first half of 2023, seven councillors were murdered. In June and July:\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Umhlathuze Local Municipality councillor and pastor, John Myaka (57), a member of the African Christian Democratic Party, was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.news24.com\/news24\/southafrica\/news\/kzn-pastor-shot-and-killed-in-church-during-sermon-20230628\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">shot dead during a sermon at his home<\/a> in Richards Bay, KwaZulu-Natal<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Mkhanyakude District Municipality councillor Innocent \u2018Killer\u2019 Mkhwanazi (43), an Inkatha Freedom Party member, was <a href=\"https:\/\/scrolla.africa\/notorious-kzn-ifp-councillor-gunned-down\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">shot and killed<\/a> while travelling from Mtubatuba to St Lucia in KwaZulu-Natal<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>National Freedom Party councillor Ntombenhle Mchunu (75) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.citizen.co.za\/witness\/politics\/situation-in-nongoma-remains-tense\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">was shot dead in her home<\/a> in Nongoma, KwaZulu-Natal. She was the municipality\u2019s longest-serving member<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Municipalities with multiple murders<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Almost half of the murders reported since October 2021 happened in KwaZulu-Natal (10), followed by the Eastern Cape (4) and Mpumalanga (3).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-medium is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/editor.mediahack.co.za\/theoutlier\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2023\/08\/Map-2023-08-04-600x600.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-86138\" width=\"450\" height=\"450\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Three of the councillors killed in KwaZulu-Natal were in <strong>eThekwini Metro Municipalit<\/strong>y.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>October 2021 \u2013 The ANC\u2019s Siyabonga Mkhize (39) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.news24.com\/news24\/southafrica\/news\/anc-ward-candidate-in-kwazulu-natal-killed-while-campaigning-door-to-door-20211015\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">was shot dead in Cato Ridge while campaigning for the municipal elections<\/a>. He won his ward<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>January 2022 \u2013 The ANC\u2019s Minenhle Mkhize (39) was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.iol.co.za\/dailynews\/news\/kwazulu-natal\/newly-elected-anc-councillor-shot-dead-at-his-home-8aeffbac-8e1c-4ca4-bbbe-535515a181ac\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">shot dead in his car outside his home<\/a> after a football match<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>September 2022 \u2013 The ANC\u2019s Mnqobi Molife (39) was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymaverick.co.za\/article\/2022-09-12-political-hit-suspected-after-councillor-shot-dead-on-kzn-south-coast\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">shot dead in his home<\/a> in Mvutshini, on the South Coast<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Mkhondo Local Municipality<\/strong> in Mpumalanga recorded three murders. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>November 2022 \u2013 ANC councillor Muzi Manyathi (41) was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sowetanlive.co.za\/news\/south-africa\/2022-11-07-death-stalks-anc-councillors-in-gert-sibande\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">shot dead outside a fuel station<\/a>. His name was allegedly on a hit list<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>January 2023 \u2013 ANC councillor Sibonelo Ntshangase (31) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=EHlNvXqgOHE\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">was shot dead<\/a> after leaving a house with friends<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>January 2023 \u2013 ANC councillor Sbonelo Mthembu (36)<a href=\"https:\/\/www.news24.com\/news24\/southafrica\/news\/mpumalanga-councillor-and-two-others-gunned-down-suspects-on-the-run-20230114\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> was shot and killed<\/a> after he and his mechanic were dropped off at a private home<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>In <strong>Nelson Mandela Bay Metro Municipality<\/strong> two councillors were killed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>February 2022 \u2013 ANC councillor Wellington Booi (60) was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.iol.co.za\/news\/south-africa\/eastern-cape\/anc-councillor-killed-in-a-hail-of-bullets-in-kwazakhele-gqeberha-cfdd81e2-5658-46a7-9d50-4db4f99690a0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">shot dead while driving with three passengers<\/a> in Kwazakhele, Gqeberha<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>May 2022 \u2013 ANC councillor Andile Andries (45) was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heraldlive.co.za\/news\/2022-05-03-double-murder-rocks-nelson-mandela-bay-anc\/?utm_source=Arena+Holdings&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=Double+murder+rocks+Nelson+Mandela+Bay+ANC+%7C+Armed+robbery+terror+ends+in+big+splash+%7C+Gqeberha+four+enjoy+60+years+of+brotherhood&amp;utm_term=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.heraldlive.co.za%2Fnews%2F2022-05-03-double-murder-rocks-nelson-mandela-bay-anc%2F\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">shot and killed<\/a> while working on a motor vehicle with his assistant<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>In <strong>Nongoma Local Municipality<\/strong> two councillors were killed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>October 2021 \u2013 The body of the NFP&#8217;s Dumisani Qwabe was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.iol.co.za\/dailynews\/news\/kwazulu-natal\/woman-charged-with-murder-of-nfp-local-government-elections-ward-councillor-candidate-dumisani-qwabe-68a89cd3-90b3-44b7-9646-c5ad9d3d5103\">found shot and burnt<\/a> in his bakkie a few days before the 2021 local goverment elections<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>July 2023 \u2013 NFP councillor Ntombenhle Mchunu was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.citizen.co.za\/witness\/politics\/situation-in-nongoma-remains-tense\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">shot dead<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Political parties hit<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Most of the 21 murdered councillors were from the ANC<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>15 ANC councillors<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>2 Inkatha Freedom Party councillors<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>2 National Freedom Party councillors (Nongoma, KwaZulu-Natal)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>1 independent candidate (Merafong City, Gauteng)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>1 African Christian Democratic Party councillor (uMhlathuze, KwaZulu-Natal)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>All of the councillors in our dataset who were murdered were shot dead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><strong>Read more:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theoutlier.co.za\/governance\/undefined\/82813-\/how-many-bodyguards-does-a-mayor-need\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">How many bodyguards does a mayor need?&nbsp;<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Keeping count<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The Outlier was able to confirm that 21 councillors were murdered, 10 in KwaZulu-Natal, but the number may be higher.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In July 2023, Thami Ntuli, the chair of the South African Local Government Association (Salga), said <a href=\"https:\/\/editor.mediahack.co.za\/theoutlier\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2023\/07\/SALGA-Statement-Killing-of-Cllrs-in-KZN-2023-1.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">17 councillors<\/a> had been murdered in KwaZulu-Natal since September 2022.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When we asked Salga for information on the murdered councillors, its spokesperson, Constance Shabalala, responded: \u2018Unfortunately, I won\u2019t be able to share [the list] as that would be against the POPIA act. It would seem a bit insensitive as us [sic], as an association, to avail such information to you.\u2019&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Our methodology<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The Outlier tracks the status of municipal councillors daily by collecting news articles and media releases with a Google News Alert. Information sources include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Media releases from the Independent Electoral Commission. These only indicate whether a councillor has died, had their party membership terminated, resigned or was removed through court action<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Media releases from other sources, news articles and memorial notices<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>If details are not available, we contact the municipality directly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We started collecting the data from the 1 November 2021 local government elections. Two councillors (Siyabonga Mkhize and Dumisani Qwabe) won their wards posthumously and have been included in the data for this story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Our data shows that of the 73 councillors:\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>21 were murdered<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>22 died from an illness<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>7 were killed in accidents<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>1 died by suicide<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The cause of 22 of the deaths is listed as \u2018unknown\u2019.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Municipalities can only comment on the unfortunate event of a councillor\u2019s death or cite a cause of death on an official police report or authorised investigation in the event of:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Motor vehicle accident<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Hijacking<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Murder&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The Outlier could not find obituaries or press statements on two councillor deaths reported as a reason for a by-election:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>King Sabata Dalindyebo municipality confirmed the cause of death of one its councillors as illness, but it did not confirm the month or year or the death.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>We were unable to reach Enoch Mgijima municipality to confirm the cause of death of a councillor.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><em>This story was updated on 4 August 2023 to include the deaths of two councillors: the NFP\u2019s Ntombenhle Mchunu (murder) and the DA\u2019s Nonsikelelo Pearl Msomi (illness).<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In South Africa, the murder rate among municipal ward councillors is six times higher than the national rate of 45 murders per 100,000 people<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":85998,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,16,446,1387],"tags":[384,385,73,386,387,52,111,137,388,389,390,391,392,34],"newsletter-post":[],"site":[],"class_list":["post-85968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","category-governance","category-news","category-the-outlier","tag-african-christian-democratic-party","tag-african-national-congress","tag-crime","tag-independent-electoral-commission","tag-inkatha-freedom-party","tag-kwazulu-natal","tag-local-government","tag-mayors","tag-murder-rate","tag-murders","tag-national-freedom-party","tag-salga","tag-south-african-local-government-association","tag-ward-councillors"],"acf":{"big_number":null,"big_number_caption":null,"big_number_link":null,"big_number_background":null,"big_number_text_colour":null,"big_number_icon":null,"big_number_wide":null,"featured_chart":null,"flourish_chart_id":null,"flourish_sub_title":null,"flourish_chart_width":null,"is_newsletter_post":null,"post_style":null,"show_on_front":null,"link_through":null,"chart_url":null,"background_colour":null,"text_colour":null},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85968"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85968\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86542,"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85968\/revisions\/86542"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85968"},{"taxonomy":"newsletter-post","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newsletter-post?post=85968"},{"taxonomy":"site","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/site?post=85968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}