MK leader killed as 21 election dockets open and six arrested before voting day

A uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party regional leader has been killed in KwaZulu-Natal during the special voting period for the 2026 Local Government Elections, with the Political Killings Task Team now supporting the investigation.

Lieutenant General Tebello Mosikili, co-chairperson of the National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure (NatJOINTS), told a media briefing on Tuesday evening that the killing was of particular concern to the operational structures coordinating security around the elections. She said the investigating team would pursue available leads and that the task team would provide investigative support.

Mosikili did not name the leader, the date of the killing or the circumstances, and no arrest in that case was announced.

Her briefing put 21 case dockets on the record since Monday, covering murder and what she described as theft involving banners, tents and the removal of posters, arson, intimidation, and the theft and defacing of election material. Five of the dockets have been processed to court and six suspects have been arrested in total.

The arrests she listed were two suspects for impersonating an Electoral Commission (IEC) official at Ingcobo in the Eastern Cape, one for destroying election material at Mmametlake in Mpumalanga, one for malicious damage to property in Pienaar in Mpumalanga, and one for taking a photograph of a ballot paper in Christina in the North West. That accounts for five of the six. Mosikili’s breakdown did not say which case the sixth arrest relates to, and the dockets and arrests are not the same set of numbers.

Registered voters go to the polls on Wednesday, 4 November, after two days of special voting.

Mosikili said the incidents had caused concern as the country approaches Election Day and that every incident brought to the attention of operational structures was receiving attention, with interventions being implemented. She urged political parties, their members and supporters to exercise political tolerance and restraint, and warned that law enforcement agencies would act decisively against violence, intimidation, assassination or other criminal activity during the electoral period.

Security measures have been intensified in areas identified through intelligence assessments as requiring increased interventions, she said, describing the posture as proactive, intelligence-driven and responsive.

Police are also investigating the death of an IEC presiding officer in the North West to determine the cause. Mosikili said contingency plans were activated when the voting station closed so that the scene could be processed thoroughly, and that the station would be open and fully operational for voting on Wednesday. She did not give the officer’s name or the circumstances of the death.

On service delivery, Mosikili said NatJOINTS had engaged government departments to secure electricity, water, infrastructure and support services at voting stations. She acknowledged media reports of electricity interruptions affecting some municipalities over the past two days and said the identified challenges had been attended to through the relevant departments and coordinating structures, with contingency measures in place for further disruptions.

The account is SAnews’s (South African Government News Agency) report of Mosikili’s briefing rather than a transcript of it, and the case dockets and arrests she described remain allegations that have not been tested in court.

Source: SAnews (South African Government News Agency), https://www.sanews.gov.za/south-africa/police-crackdown-special-voting-incidents