Political assassinations in post-apartheid South Africa

There have been many political assassinations in post-apartheid South Africa.^[1][2] In 2013 it was reported that there had been more than 450 political assassinations in the province of KwaZulu-Natal since the end of apartheid in 1994.^[3] In July 2013 the Daily Maverick reported that there had been "59 political murders in the last five years".^[4] In August 2016 it was reported that there had been at least twenty political assassinations in the run up to the local government elections on the 3rd of August that year, most of them in KwaZulu-Natal.^[5]

Political assassinations have often been ascribed to battles around patronage within the ruling African National Congress.^{[6][7][8][9][10][11]} However, not all assassinations are a result of conflict within the ruling party. The National Freedom Party led by Zanele Magwaza-Msibi, with its base largely in KwaZulu-Natal, claims that 21 of its members have been killed since the party was founded in early 2011.^[12] The Inkatha Freedom Party claims that ten of its elected representatives have been murdered.^[13] In June 2013 Abahlali baseMjondolo, an autonomous shack dwellers' movement in Durban, claimed that the murder of Nkululeko Gwala, a local leader in the organisation, was a political assassination.^[14][4] In May 2016 two ANC councillors were convicted of murder following the assassination of Thuli Ndlovu, also a local leader in Abahlali baseMjondolo .^[15] In September 2020 it was reported that "Since 2016, there have been at least 38 assassinations and 14 attempted assassinations in mining localities in KwaZulu-Natal."^[16]

According to Raymond Suttner "assassinations have become a regularised way of deciding on leadership and access to wealth within the ANC and its allies".^[17] In 2016 the ANC Secretary General, Gwede Mantashe said: "The reality is that selection of candidates for council is always a life-and-death issue."^[18] Assassinations is only part of violence that surrounds South African elections. David Bruce published an extensive report on the 2014 election pointing to the subtle and complex ways in which the ANC intimidates its political rivals.^[19] In the run up to the 2014 election the Independent Electoral Commission did little to intervene to prevent violence, the abuse of government resources and the use of the state run media (the SABC) to favour the ruling party.^[20]

Mark Shaw and Kim Thomas have recorded just over 1,000 individual cases of assassination or attempted assassination.^[21]

The high prevalence of political assassinations in South Africa was discussed at the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2022.^[22]