South African councillor received warning before his murder
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Daily Maverick
South African councillor Luxolo Namette received an SMS warning about two party members before he was shot dead on 7 November. The political killings team has taken over the investigation, according to the Daily Maverick.
Nelson Mandela Bay councillor Luxolo Namette received an anonymous SMS during the election campaign warning that two members of his party, the UDM, would seek to have him removed from the proportional representation candidates' list. A UDM official quoted by the Daily Maverick said Namette had forwarded the message to him on WhatsApp, but did not take the warning seriously.
The message named two UDM members, whose names were redacted by the Daily Maverick, and accused them of being unhappy about Namette's selection as a candidate for mayor of Nelson Mandela Bay. The UDM official wants police to seize Namette's phone to identify the sender of the SMS and the person who called him from the hair salon before his death, according to the Daily Maverick.
Three days after the local elections, on 7 November, Namette was shot dead after leaving a hair salon in Motherwell following a telephone call. UDM deputy president Nqabayomzi Kwankwa announced that the Political Killings Task Team, which investigates political killings, had taken over the investigation. Namette's murder is the fourth to affect the Nelson Mandela Bay municipal council since 2022, according to the Daily Maverick.
The murder comes after the 7 November local elections, in which the Democratic Alliance won 44% in Nelson Mandela Bay. It also follows the announcement of the murder of Luxolo Namette, published the same day.
