43 killed in suspected political assassinations ahead of South African polls, report finds
Story By Staff Reporter
At least 43 people have been killed in suspected political assassinations in South Africa this year through September, with local government elections only a month away, according to a report released Friday.
The elections are scheduled for November 4, with opposition parties hoping to capitalise on public frustration with the ANC, which has been the country’s largest party since democracy arrived in 1994, over crumbling infrastructure, crime and corruption.
The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime (GI-TOC), which began tracking such killings in 2015, said this year’s death toll has already surpassed any full-year total on record. The Geneva-based independent civil-society group warned that the “highest-risk months” still lie ahead as the fight for political power intensifies.
GI-TOC’s database logged 45 politically linked attacks up to September 30. Most targeted political party officials, ward councillors, members of civic organisations and movements, and traditional leaders.
Of those killed, 13 belonged to the ANC, followed by eight from the MK Party (MKP), headed by former president Jacob Zuma, whose tenure ended in disgrace. The findings appear in a report titled “Bullets and Ballots”.
KwaZulu-Natal, the MKP’s stronghold, saw the majority of the attacks, while Gauteng, home to the economic hub of Johannesburg, recorded 10.
The vote will serve as a gauge of ANC support ahead of the 2029 national elections, after the party that led the fight against apartheid lost its parliamentary majority in 2024.
