By Charmaine Ndlela
Police in Mpumalanga have opened a murder investigation after a 57-year-old man was gunned down outside a voting station in Bushbuckridge shortly after midnight on Wednesday, as KwaZulu-Natal police reported 18 criminal cases recorded during the 2026 Local Government Elections.
Mpumalanga police spokesperson Brigadier Donald Mdhluli said the victim was shot several times outside a voting station in Bukujo while election officials were busy counting votes.
The man was rushed to hospital, where he died from his injuries.
“Two people came and one of them shot the victim. We have opened a case of murder and we are still investigating,” Mdhluli said.
He said other people were present when the shooting occurred and that preliminary information indicated that the victim was a supporter of one of the political parties.
However, police have not established whether the killing was politically motivated, with Mdhluli saying the motive would form part of the ongoing investigation.
“From what we have gathered so far, he is a supporter of one of the political parties. However, for us, it is a matter that we have to investigate and make sure that those responsible are held to account,” he said.
Mdhluli said the investigation had been assigned to a team operating under an election-related joint operational structure.
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He appealed to members of the public who might have information about the suspects to contact Crime Stop on 08600 10111 or submit information through the MySAPS application.
Meanwhile, KZN police said the province remained relatively stable during the elections, despite several incidents of political intolerance and other criminal activities.
Acting Provincial Commissioner of KwaZulu-Natal, Major General Phumelele Makoba, said police and other law enforcement agencies had been deployed to safeguard 5 029 voting stations across the province.
Addressing a media briefing shortly after the official closure of voting stations, Makoba said the province had registered 18 criminal cases from the beginning of the special voting period up to election day.
The cases included eight for contravention of the Electoral Act, four for intimidation, and one each for assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, common assault, malicious damage to property, burglary and fraud.
Seven suspects had been arrested.
“Despite a few political intolerance incidents, the province remained relatively stable throughout the election period up to this point,” Makoba said.
She said police had classified 165 voting stations as high risk, 1 014 as medium risk and 3 550 as low risk across the province’s 11 districts.
Makoba said the two days of special voting had provided an opportunity for law enforcement agencies to identify operational challenges and strengthen their plans ahead of the main election day.
She confirmed that all voting stations in the province had concluded voting at the prescribed time, with counting proceeding without major disruptions.
Makoba also addressed power outages reported in KwaMakhutha, uMbumbulu and Isipingo, saying the incidents had not affected voting or the counting process.
She said investigations were underway to establish the cause of the outages, adding that Eskom had previously assured authorities during provincial joint operational meetings that there would be no load-shedding or load reduction across the province.
“If the power outage was man-made with ill intentions, responsible individuals will be held accountable for their actions. If the outage was as a result of a criminal act, our detectives will dig deeper to find the culprits so that they face the might of the law,” she said.
The acting provincial commissioner also confirmed that a police sergeant had been precautionarily removed from election operations after reports emerged that she had arrived at a voting station in a vehicle displaying posters of a political party.
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Makoba described the conduct as unprofessional, saying internal investigations were underway to determine whether disciplinary action or criminal charges would be warranted.
Another incident under investigation involves the theft of Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) material from Mnyameni High School in Hillcrest.
Makoba said police had registered a burglary case following the theft of unmarked ballot papers, the voters’ roll and election ink.
She said established election security protocols required ballot papers and other sensitive materials to be transported to voting stations on election day under police escort, and prohibited the storage of such material at voting stations.
“These protocols were somehow breached, and we are working closely with the IEC to investigate the matter. We shall get to the bottom of this matter and responsible individuals will be arrested,” she said.
Makoba said police would maintain their deployment at strategic points until the counting process had been completed and election results announced.
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