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The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) is calling for the immediate deployment of the KwaZulu-Natal Political Task Team to investigate, with the utmost urgency, the alarming and deeply disturbing murders of two IFP councillor candidates in separate incidents in KwaZulu-Natal within the space of just seven days.

The killing of political candidates cannot be treated as ordinary criminality. These attacks strike at the heart of our constitutional democracy and threaten the fundamental right of South Africans to participate freely and safely in political life.

Cde Lucky Sokhela, the IFP Ward 8 Councillor Candidate for uMshwathi Local Municipality under the Indlovu District, was brutally gunned down on Tuesday, 01 September 2026, after arriving at his home. It is alleged that the perpetrators had followed him in a Polo vehicle before carrying out the attack.

His murder comes just days after the gruesome killing of IFP Ward 17 Councillor Candidate under the uMlalazi Local Municipality, Cde Khethelo Mdluli (40). Cde Mdluli was brutally shot in front of his children at his home in oPhindweni, Gingindlovu, last Thursday. He succumbed to his injuries on Monday at Ngwelezane Hospital.

Two political candidates murdered within seven days is an alarming development that demands an immediate and decisive response from law-enforcement authorities.

The IFP condemns these killings in the strongest possible terms. Political violence, intimidation and assassination have no place in a constitutional democracy. Political differences must never be settled through violence, threats or murder. No political office, election, political disagreement or contest for power is worth a single human life.

The IFP therefore calls for the urgent deployment of the KwaZulu-Natal Political Task Team to establish the circumstances surrounding these killings, identify the perpetrators and establish whether political motives may have played a role.

We call on the South African Police Service (SAPS) to treat these cases as matters of the highest priority and to mobilise every necessary resource to ensure that those responsible are identified, arrested and prosecuted.

The IFP further calls on the National Prosecuting Authority and all relevant law-enforcement agencies to ensure that these cases receive the attention they deserve and that there is no impunity for those who seek to use violence to influence political outcomes.

There must be zero tolerance for political violence.

As KwaZulu-Natal and South Africa prepare for the Local Government Elections, the IFP calls on all political parties, candidates, supporters, community leaders and citizens to reject violence, intimidation and political intolerance.

We call for a political culture in which parties can compete vigorously on ideas, policies and programmes without turning political differences into personal hostility or violence.

The IFP therefore calls on all political parties to recommit themselves to political tolerance and to ensuring that the upcoming Local Government Elections are peaceful, free and fair. Every candidate must be able to campaign without fear. Every voter must be able to cast their ballot without intimidation. Every community must be able to participate in the democratic process without the threat of violence.

The IFP extends its deepest and heartfelt condolences to the Sokhela and Mdluli families, their relatives, friends, colleagues and the communities they served.

The IFP leadership will visit both families to convey its condolences and offer support during this profoundly difficult period.

The murder of political candidates must never become normalised.
KwaZulu-Natal has paid too high a price for political violence. South Africa cannot afford to go backwards. We must ensure that the coming elections are decided by the will of the people — not by fear, intimidation or the barrel of a gun.

LET THE BALLOT, NOT THE BULLET, DECIDE.

May the souls of Cdes Lucky Sokhela and Khethelo Mdluli rest in eternal peace.

Issued by IFP National Spokesperson Mkhuleko Hlengwa