An increase in the number of councillors being killed ahead of the November 4 Local Government Elections has raised fears that they are being targeted and killed due to fierce competition over access to municipal resources, state tenders, and well-paid public jobs.
The killing of three ANC-linked figures in Knysna within 24 hours has renewed concerns about political violence and the contest for power at municipal level.
Other political parties have also seen their public representative being killed, including DA candidate councillor, Sinovuyo Dyokwe, who was shot dead in Dunoon, Cape Town in June 2026 after allegations that she did not pay extortionists, and the ANC’s Sibusiso Khwela, the eThekwini Ward 17 councillor, was gunned down in his office in Klaarwater, Durban.
Earlier this month, police apprehended suspects linked to the murders of Tshwane Ward 10 ANC councillor Thabang Masemola and EFF member Aaron Makola. Masemola was killed in Mamelodi East on July 8, 2025. Makola, 51, was found dead in Delmas with a gunshot wound on June 30, 2026. He had been reported missing for several days.
In the latest incidents, former Knysna mayor and ANC Ward 8 councillor Aubrey Tsengwa was shot dead by unidentified gunmen on Wednesday night. On Thursday, the ANC confirmed that two of its members were also shot dead in Knysna by a lone gunman, just 24 hours after Tsengwa’s killing. Police have yet to establish a motive for the shootings.
The Knysna Municipality has now deployed additional law enforcement to protect councillors, with some councillors placed in safe houses following the killings.
Acting Municipal Manager Boy Ngubo said the municipality was working with provincial authorities on a risk assessment to determine further security measures.
“We have deployed additional law enforcement to the councillors, and some of our councillors at the moment are in safe houses due to what we’ve seen happen,” Ngubo said.
He said the municipality had also held meetings with provincial officials and others assisting with the security response.
“We’ve had meetings with provincial staff as well as folks trying to assist us to get a proper risk assessment, because that’s what we need.”
Ngubo said the municipality was being guided by the outcome of the risk assessment as it sought to protect councillors amid the heightened tensions.
Executive Mayor Councillor Thando Matika condemned the violence, saying the killing of a public representative was an attack on democratic local government.
Western Cape Police Oversight and Community Safety MEC Anroux Marais warned that Tsengwa’s killing came at a sensitive time ahead of the elections.
“While the exact motive of this crime is still under investigation… we must be vigilant against any form of political violence,” she said.
The killings come against the backdrop of warnings that political violence could intensify as parties position themselves for the November polls, with previous local election years recording sharp increases in political assassinations.
Research cited by Corruption Watch revealed that political assassinations have repeatedly increased during local election years. The organisation said the spikes were linked to fierce competition for local government positions and access to municipal finances.
It identified “factionalism, tenderpreneurship, and competition over public resources for personal advantage” as drivers of political killings.
According to Corruption Watch, political office has increasingly been viewed as “a lucrative economic opportunity rather than a call to serve the public”, with corrupt activities enabling public looting.
The Knysna killings follow a series of politically linked deaths during the June voter-registration weekend across three provinces. KwaZulu-Natal remains the country’s most notorious hotspot for political assassinations, but recent killings and attacks across Gauteng, the Western Cape, and the Eastern Cape suggest the problem is not confined to one province or one political party.
Political analyst Sandile Swana, reflecting on the recent spate of politically linked killings, has warned that the 2026 Local Government Elections have the potential to be the country’s deadliest, saying the violence is increasingly cutting across party lines.
“Political intimidation and killing this year have got a very good opportunity when we look at the pace at which they have started. That is actually affecting virtually every political party now. It’s not a question of the IFP, ANC, stuff like that. The EFF people are dying, the DA people, the BOSA people, people are just getting killed.
“So this election of 2026, the local government election in South Africa, has got the highest potential, in my judgment, to be the one where the most people will be killed. Secondly, where the most diverse range of people will be killed.”
He said councillors could become conduits to municipal jobs, tenders, and budgets, creating incentives to fight for political positions by almost any means.
Research fellow at the Middle East Africa Research Institute Kenneth Mokgatlhe-Kgwadi also links the killings directly to the battle for public resources and the protection of political positions.
“Those who kill do so to either amass the wealth (public resources) or to ensure their position is never threatened or that they are never removed from the position of power.”
He described the phenomenon bluntly as “the bloody mafia game”, arguing that political killings can intersect with factional battles and criminal interests.
For Dr Bandile Masuku, chairperson of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature’s Portfolio Committee on Community Safety, the killings pose a direct threat to the country’s democratic process.
He described them as an “extremely serious threat to democracy and community safety”.
But Masuku said investigations must go beyond identifying the person who pulled the trigger and establish who commissioned the killing, who benefited from it, and what networks were behind it.”
