The case against the foiled heist perpetrators on Monday shows a growing trend among organised criminals where in some cases former SANDF members and police officials are involved.
ANC councillor Msibi was shot dead in Ulundi, KwaZulu-Natal, police said on Monday.
"We can confirm that an ANC councillor was shot dead at his home on Sunday at 7pm," Lieutenant Colonel Vincent Mdunge said.
A man knocked at the door soon after the councillor had returned home from a meeting in Nongoma. His son opened the door and a man asked to see the councillor.
"The man fired shots at him when he emerged. He tried to run into his bedroom but it was too late … he suffered multiple gunshot wounds and was declared dead at the scene."
The motive for the shooting is not known and no arrest has been made, said Mdunge. The police have opened a case of murder.
KwaZulu-Natal co-operative governance provincial minister Nomusa Dube identified the councillor as Makhosonke Msibi.
"According to the reports, councillor Msibi had just returned home from his party's recruitment campaign in Nongoma when an unknown gunman entered his house and shot him at point-blank range in full view of his family members," she said.
"We are deeply saddened by the brutal killing of one of the committed and tireless servants in the field of local government in the province."
The death of Msibi is a blow to the province's democratic system of local government and the development of the Zululand district as a whole.
"We do not know the cause and the motive. We are, however, worried that the killing of councillors is becoming a disturbing trend, noting that it is not happening for the first time," she said.
"If this cowardly use of violence was carried out with the intention to subvert the will of the people, it will not succeed."