South Africa is still months away from its local government elections, but a string of politically linked killings and attacks has raised fears that the battle for municipal power could turn deadlier as November approaches.
Research cited by Corruption Watch reveals that political assassinations have repeatedly climbed during local election years, with 27 cases recorded in 2016 and 30 in 2021. The organisation says the spikes were linked to fierce competition for local government positions and access to municipal finances.
It says political killings are driven by “factionalism, tenderpreneurship, and competition over public resources for personal advantage”.
Corruption Watch says 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 organisation further states that accountability will be crucial as the country approaches the 2026 polls, warning that arrests alone will not be sufficient.
“Prosecution, conviction, and sentencing are meaningful, not just arrests or dismissals.”
The warning comes against a backdrop of politically connected people being killed in separate shootings during the June voter-registration weekend across three provinces. Among them were DA ward by-election candidate Sinovuyo Dyokwe, who was shot dead in Dunoon, Cape Town, and ANC Ward 27 councillor Sicelo Mleve, who was gunned down in his office in Zwide, Gqeberha.
Two uMkhonto weSizwe Party members, Mozwakhile Zungu and Siyabonga Mabaso, were also killed in Bekkersdal on Gauteng’s West Rand after leaving a voter-registration site. The Political Killings Task Team was brought in to assist with the investigations.
KwaZulu-Natal remains the country’s most notorious hotspot for political assassinations, but recent killings and attacks across Gauteng, the Western Cape, and 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.”
For Swana, the violence is ultimately about more than party politics.
“It is not political competition in the strictest ideological contestation. It is simply a contestation among people who want the physical position to be the one who is actually holding the power and allocating these resources and opportunities.”
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.
“Investigations must establish who commissioned the killing, who benefited from it, and what networks were behind it.”
Masuku called for stronger intelligence-led policing, early identification of threats, and closer cooperation between SAPS, political parties, municipalities, and communities to identify potential hotspots and people at risk.
The concern has also prompted Gauteng to establish specialised task teams to tackle political killings and kidnappings. The first unit is focused on political assassinations and politically motivated killings of government officials, while the second targets kidnappings, extortion, and criminal activity linked to infrastructure projects.
