An African National Congress (ANC) councillor was shot dead by unidentified gunmen at his home in Umhlali, KwaZulu-Natal, early on Friday morning, police said.
Spokesperson Bala Naidoo said the men set 32-year-old Preva Khumalo’s house on fire before they fled.
His fiancée, Nozipho Gregor, was seriously injured in the shooting, but their four-year-old child escaped unharmed.
Gregor was taken to a local hospital in a critical but stable condition.
Naidoo said the motive for the killing is not yet known. Police are investigating.
KwaZulu-Natal ANC spokesperson Mtholephi Mthimkhulu said in a statement released on Friday afternoon that the gunmen kicked down the door and began shooting randomly.
Despite Gregor’s wounds, she managed to grab the child and fled from the scene.
Khumalo was burnt beyond recognition.
Mthimkhulu said Khumalo had been ”receiving death threats for quite some time”. He was attacked with an axe on the day of the local government elections in March.
Mthimkhulu said the ANC wants the investigation to be handled by police other than the Umhlali police because ”local Umhlali police have not made any arrest or questioned any suspect, even though Khumalo kept on reporting these incidents”.
”Hence we have requested that this murder case be handled by police from outside the area.”
Khumalo was the Ward 4 councillor at Driefontein for the KwaDukuza municipality (formerly Stanger).
He is the 15th ANC councillor to be killed in KwaZulu-Natal since February.
KwaDukuza has been wracked with political and taxi-related violence during the past two years. Last October, the KwaDukuza municipal manager was gunned down while having lunch at a local restaurant. — Sapa