IFP calls for PKTT after two councillor candidates shot dead in KZN

The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) has urged South African law enforcement to treat the killings of two of its councillor candidates in KwaZulu‑Natal as a matter of highest priority and to deploy the Political Killings Task Team (PKTT) to investigate.

Two councillor candidates shot dead

The IFP announced that Khethelo Mdluli, a councillor candidate from the King Cetshwayo District, was shot outside his home and later died in hospital, according to The Citizen. The party said Mdluli had been a candidate for councillor in the upcoming local government elections.

The party also reported that another councillor candidate, Lucky Sokhela, from the uMshwathi Local Municipality, was shot outside his house and has died, The Citizen reported.

IFP demands specialised intervention

IFP spokesperson Mkhuleko Hlengwa appealed for urgent intervention by the KwaZulu‑Natal Political Task Team. Hlengwa said these killings could not be treated as ordinary criminality and urged that every necessary resource be mobilised to identify and bring those responsible to justice.

“Political differences must never be settled through violence,”

Hlengwa added that political violence, intimidation and assassination have no place in a constitutional democracy and called on the National Prosecuting Authority and law‑enforcement agencies to ensure there is no impunity for those who use violence to influence political outcomes.

Party leadership calls for calm

IFP president Velenkosini Hlabisa said volunteers had recently been assaulted while putting up posters in the KwaNyuswa area and urged restraint. The party described the attacks as threatening the right of South Africans to participate freely and safely in political life and called for zero tolerance for political violence.

What the IFP wants

• The IFP has asked the PKTT to establish the circumstances surrounding the killings and to identify the perpetrators.
• The party called for the cases to be prioritized by police and for the National Prosecuting Authority to ensure prosecutions where appropriate.

Remaining uncertainties

The Citizen report states that Mdluli died in hospital on Monday after being shot outside his home last week and that Sokhela was shot outside his house on Tuesday. No further independent details on exact times, locations beyond the municipalities named, or progress in police investigations were provided in that article.