A bishop was shot dead in his home in Mkhuhlu’s Mantangaleni Section near Hazyview on the night of Tuesday, October 28. This is the second killing of a religious leader in the area in as many weeks.

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Bishop Samuel Zitha (60) of the Apostolic Church was shot in his sitting room at about 23:30.

The Calcutta police received information about the shooting shortly before midnight. When they arrived at the scene, they found Zitha lying on a blood-soaked couch and established that he had been shot.

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Zitha’s wife told police she was woken by the sound of a gunshot. When she went to the sitting room, she found her husband bleeding from the head and noticed that the kitchen door was wide open.

“One spent 9mm cartridge was found at the scene,” said Mpumalanga police spokesperson Captain Mpho Nonyane-Mpe.

Multiple emergency services responded, and paramedics declared the bishop dead at the scene.

“Preliminary investigations indicate that an intruder shot the bishop before escaping through the kitchen door,” Nonyane-Mpe said.

Zitha’s body was taken to the Mapulaneng government mortuary in Bushbuckridge. A case of murder has been opened, but no arrests have been made.

In an unrelated case, there have also been no arrests in connection with the murder of Prophet Clive Masinga and the attempted murder of his female companion. Masinga was shot dead while at a tavern in Mkhuhlu on the night of October 17. The woman he was with sustained serious gunshot wounds.

Masinga was previously arrested in 2023 for allegedly raping a 15-year-old girl.

Zitha had also allegedly been in police custody before. Lowvelder has it on good authority that Zitha was once arrested after a dead crocodile was found at his home a few years ago. He reportedly paid a fine after being convicted of poaching.

Mkhuhlu has earned the name “land of blood” following more than 30 unsolved gun-related deaths over the past two years.