ActionSA ward candidate stabbed and strangled in KZN two days before the polls - News24

Victoria Ntombi Mkhize was stabbed and strangled outside her Maphumulo home – the latest death in an election year that has already claimed at least 50 lives in suspected political murders.

ActionSA’s provincial chairperson, Zwakele Mncwango, said on Monday that the party was disturbed by two serious incidents involving its members and their families over the weekend.

One of their members who was killed over the weekend is Mkhize, a party activist and Ward 11 candidate in the Mnyameni area of Maphumulo Local Municipality, under iLembe District Municipality.

Preliminary reports indicated that Mkhize was allegedly stabbed with a knife and strangled to death just outside her home.

“While we cannot speculate about the motives behind these incidents, their timing, just days before elections, is deeply concerning. We call on SAPS (South African Police Service) to urgently investigate both incidents and ensure the safety of political candidates, activists and their families. Political differences must never lead to violence or loss of life,” said Mncwango.

“We call on the police to urgently investigate this horrific killing and bring those responsible to justice.”

In a separate incident, Mncwango said the home of the party’s Ward 61 candidate, Thembela Makhiloyo, in the Umbayi area of Tongaat, eThekwini municipality, was completely destroyed by fire.

Mkhize’s killing comes amid a wave of political violence that has cast a long shadow over Wednesday’s polls.

News24 reported on Sunday that Julian Rademeyer’s September report for the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime (GI-TOC), “Ballots and Bullets: Targeted Killings and South Africa’s 2026 Local Government Elections”, found that at least 43 people had been killed in suspected political assassinations since January.

Since the report was published, at least 10 more people have been killed in October.

The figure exceeds the full-year totals for both the 2021 municipal election year (30) and the 2024 national election year (33).

By 30 September, the GI-TOC database had recorded 205 targeted killing incidents for 2026, of which 45 were classified as political attacks – surpassing previous tolls of 42 in 2019 and 40 in 2022.

It is with great sadness that ActionSA announces the tragic killing of one of our activists and the horrific burning down of an ActionSA candidate’s home in Tongaat.These deeply disturbing incidents are a painful reminder that political differences should never cost anyone… pic.twitter.com/wELJ43SImo

KwaZulu-Natal recorded the most attacks: 16 of the 45, with Gauteng second on 10 murders.

A separate Gun Free South Africa tally, reported by the Witness, put the figure at 44 deaths in 37 attacks.

The MK Party has experienced more political murders than any other party in KwaZulu-Natal.

National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure co-chairperson Lieutenant General Tebello Mosikili told a media briefing at the coordinating centre in Pretoria on Sunday night that 139 election-related criminal cases had been opened across the country, with 48 suspects arrested.

Those cases include 10 murders, 14 assaults, 10 intimidation cases, eight cases of malicious damage to property, seven thefts and one attempted murder.

Electoral Act offences accounted for the highest number at 72, with 22 arrests.

“We remain particularly concerned about incidents involving the loss of life during the election period,” Mosikili said.

WATCH | President Cyril Ramaphosa condemns escalating political killings of councillors and PR candidates - one week out from the 4 November local government elections. @News24 pic.twitter.com/ewvKcmKY1R

The SAPS has deployed its Political Killings Task Team and provincial and national detective structures to prioritise the investigations, she said.

The South African National Defence Force is on standby to support police in hotspot areas.

Mosikili said all voting stations had undergone security assessments and were categorised as high, medium, or low risk, with deployments tailored accordingly.

KwaZulu-Natal has the highest number of high-risk voting stations in the country, with 165 identified – 124 of them in the eThekwini district alone, according to national police commissioner General Fannie Masemola.

Masemola, briefing journalists in Durban on Friday, said: “No person should lose their life or be attacked simply because of their political affiliation or their decision to participate in the electoral process.”

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