President Cyril Ramaphosa Condemns Escalating Political Killings Ahead of Local Government Elections

• President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed reporters in KwaZulu-Natal on 28 October 2026 ahead of the local government elections
• Ramaphosa called on police to pursue and prosecute those responsible for the escalating political killings in the country
• The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime recorded that over 43 people were killed in politically linked attacks in 2026

Byron Pillay, a Briefly News journalist, has spent a decade reporting on South Africa's political landscape, crime, and social issues. He worked as a newspaper journalist for 10 years before transitioning to online journalism.

KWAZULU-NATAL — President Cyril Ramaphosa has publicly condemned the escalating murder of councillors and election candidates, describing the killings as a direct assault on South Africa's democratic order, one week before the 4 November local government elections.

Speaking to a press scrum in Magabheni, eThekwini, on 28 October 2026, Ramaphosa called on the police to actively hunt down those responsible.

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"Catch them, have them prosecuted, because those are actually acting against the will of the people of South Africa," he said.

Ramaphosa said democracy would not be destabilised

Ramaphosa framed the violence as an attempt to undermine the electoral process itself.

"Those who are killing councillors, those who are killing candidates, are really seeking to destroy the efficacy of our democracy," he said.

He added that South Africa had built a "strong and functioning and robust democracy" that would not be surrendered to those intent on destabilising it. He condemned the killings "in the strongest terms," insisting that targeting campaigners or candidates was incompatible with democratic governance.

"We cannot accept that in a democracy," he said.

Record number of political killings in 2026

The remarks came as political violence data reached alarming levels.

The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime (GI-TOC) recorded 43 people killed in 45 politically linked attacks between 1 January and 30 September 2026, a figure that already surpasses the full-year total for any year since at least 2015.

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Researcher Julian Rademeyer noted around 27 October that around 8 to 10 further individuals had been killed in approximately five to six separate incidents during October alone, pushing the rough year-to-date estimate into the low-to-mid 50s, with polling day still days away.

Other stories about politicians being killed

• The family of slain Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) candidate councillor Lucky Sokhela said they were living in constant fear following his murder.
• An African National Congress (ANC) councillor was shot dead in Klaarwater, in the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality.
• KZN Premier Thamsanqa Ntuli revealed that 18 elected councillors were murdered across the province since the 2021 Local Government Elections.

Source: Briefly News