Former Knysna mayor Aubrey Tsengwa shot dead in Joodsekamp

Former Knysna mayor and Ward 8 councillor Aubrey Tsengwa was shot dead on Wednesday night in Joodsekamp, police said.

What happened

Police spokesman Sergeant Wesley Twigg said officers were called to Ngxalo Street in Joodsekamp at about 9.20pm and found the 48-year-old with multiple gunshot wounds to the head and upper body. He was declared dead at the scene.

According to Twigg, a gunman walked up to the vehicle and opened fire before running off. “According to preliminary information, the councillor was driving a vehicle with three passengers when they were approached by an unknown man who opened fire on the vehicle before fleeing the scene on foot,” Twigg said.

One of the passengers sustained a gunshot wound to the arm and was transported to hospital for medical treatment, Twigg said. No arrests had been made and the motive was not immediately known. Police forensic personnel processed the scene and detectives were following up on available leads, he added.

Reactions

Knysna mayor Thando Matika confirmed the news on Thursday morning.

“We mourn the loss of a fellow cadre and revolutionary whose contribution will forever remain part of our collective memory,”

ANC member Phumla Thole said.

DA Knysna mayoral candidate Levael Davis called on police to make arrests.

“We call on the police to apprehend the perpetrators and ensure they face the full might of the law,”

Davis said.

Political background

Tsengwa represented Ward 8, covering Concordia and Joodsekamp, and served as Knysna’s executive mayor from August 2022 until February 2025.

He became mayor in August 2022 when the ANC, Patriotic Alliance, Plaaslike Besorgde Inwoners and the EFF voted DA mayoral candidate Levael Davis out of office; Tsengwa won the mayoral vote 11 to 10. Over the next two and a half years he faced several motions of no confidence and was removed in February 2025 by the EFF and the Knysna Independent Movement.

Tsengwa resigned his Ward 8 seat on 31 March 2025 before Western Cape local government MEC Anton Bredell could act on a special investigation into councillors who had made political appointments that the Western Cape High Court found to be illegal. The ANC suspended him in April 2025, saying the resignation had undermined the party and forced an unnecessary by-election.

The ANC then nominated him for the Ward 8 by-election on 25 June 2025, which he won with 52.12% of the vote, down from the 72% the ANC polled in the ward in 2021.

Previous threats and local history

Knysna’s then acting municipal manager, Phaahle Simon Malepeng, alleged in early 2025 that Tsengwa had threatened him with death. Death threats against Matika followed in voice notes circulated in April 2025, which the ANC’s regional structure linked to the Ward 8 by-election. Police said they had identified a suspect in an intimidation docket.

The previous ANC councillor for Ward 8, chief whip and mayoral candidate Victor Molosi, 50, was shot in the head metres from his home in July 2018 as he walked back from a school governing body meeting in Concordia. The ANC’s Knysna region is named after him.

Ongoing investigation

Police said detectives are following up on all available leads. No further details about suspects or motive were given.