In brief
Policemen are probing the murder of uMkhonto weSizwe Party organiser Lastborn Shazi, who was shot at his home during a Zoom call. The incident comes amid rising political killings and a heightened security presence ahead of the week‑long municipal elections that will decide councillors responsible for essential services.
Al Jazeera reported that Lastborn Shazi, an organiser for South Africa’s uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP), was shot dead in KwaZulu‑Natal late Monday night while on a Zoom call coordinating the party’s campaign. The killing occurred just before the country’s local‑government elections, raising alarm about a wave of political violence during the campaign.
Senior police spokesman Robert Netshiunda said a murder investigation had been opened. Police are looking into the motive behind the killing as they work to maintain order during the elections.
Last weekend, police recorded 20 murders involving political representatives, party members and supporters during the municipal election period. The spike in violence prompted South African President Cyril Ramaphosa to deploy more than 500 soldiers to KwaZulu‑Natal, a move aimed at supporting police forces that have identified more than 165 polling stations in the province as high‑risk.
The elections, held on Wednesday, will determine who sits on municipal councils. Those councils will in turn elect mayors who oversee services such as water, sanitation and rubbish collection. The period has been described by some as the most contested in South Africa’s democratic history.
Recent polls suggest the MKP could become the largest party in the eThekwini metropolitan area, the economic hub of KwaZulu‑Natal, potentially displacing the governing African National Congress (ANC) there. The party’s rise is a legacy of a bitter split with the ANC in 2023, led by former President Jacob Zuma. Its success contributed to the erosion of ANC support in the 2024 national election.
