The African National Congress's (ANC's) Mpumalanga legislature chief whip, Fidel Mlombo, says the arrest of an employee in his office in connection with the murder of Hillary Gardee is "highly regrettable".

"As an office and the ANC, we are totally against and distance ourselves from the act of killing of innocent people.

"We trust the laws of this country, that there will be a successful investigation and prosecution of the perpetrators and that those who are found to have committed this heinous crime are put behind bars and removed from the streets for the safety of our society," Mlombo said.

The office of the ANC chief whip in Mpumalanga released a statement on Monday in which it condemned "the senseless killing of Hillary".

The person who was arrested cannot be named until his appearance in the Mbombela Magistrate's Court along with two others.

They are facing charges of murder, rape, possession of an unlicensed firearm and ammunition, and conspiracy to commit murder.

Gardee, 28, is the daughter of former Economic Freedom Fighters secretary-general Godrich Gardee.

She was reported missing two weeks ago and her body was found on Tuesday with a gunshot wound to the head.