President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday arrived at the home of slain African National Congress (ANC) local councillor Musawenkosi “Maqatha” Mchunu in the lower south coast, KwaZulu-Natal.

Ramaphosa was accompanied by members of the ANC's national working committee (NWC).

Mchunu was shot as he was exiting his vehicle at his home at KwaPata in the Pietermaritzburg area of the ANC’s Moses Mabhida region on Friday night. Mchunu was the ANC branch regional convenor in the Moses Mabhida region.

The latest tragedy of continuing political violence in the province came as the governing party holds regional elective conferences ahead of the much anticipated provincial conference at the end of this month.

Allegations of gatekeeping to prevent the Ramaphosa faction from dominating at the conferences emerged over the weekend. Ramaphosa supporters believe their members are being kept from participating in party processes in order to bolster the numbers of the larger faction in the province, which supports Sihle Zikalala, at the provincial conference. 

Zikalala is the coordinator of the provincial task team after the national executive committee resolved to dissolve the provincial executive in January.

Another politician, Inkatha Freedom Party councillor in the Zululand district, Sibuyisele Dlamini, was killed in an ambush between uLundi and Nongoma on the same day.

Police Minister Bheki Cele visited the Mchunu family on Sunday.