KZN continues to be the country’s “hitman capital”, with deep ties between assassins for hire, some in the taxi industry, rogue security firms and political networks.

Violence monitor Mary de Haas told Weekend Witness that research consistently shows KZN producing more hired killers than any other province.

“We are probably home to most of the hitmen because we have one of the most powerful and well-connected industries, the taxi industry,” she said.

De Haas warned that the problem extends beyond local disputes.

The conflict is not just at local level, but national because of the long-distance taxi industry.

“Apart from that, we also have rogue private security companies and individuals who get involved in gun-for-hire crimes.”

She pointed to Nongoma, KwaMaphumulo, and the province’s notorious hostels, as havens for gunmen linked to some taxi bosses and politicians.

“Hostels are the shame of the new South Africa. They are relics of colonialism and apartheid and should never have been allowed to continue in their state — they are ideal places to hide hitmen. We saw this in Glebelands,” said De Haas.

KZN police commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi has also raised the alarm, singling out the Umzinyathi District as a key recruitment hub.

Speaking at a stakeholder engagement session in Durban last month, he said: “Almost every hitman we get is recruited from there, and they are recruited from a very young age.

“Many come from polygamous homes where a father figure is absent, and they struggle to navigate life’s challenges.”

Former Police Minister Bheki Cele also branded KZN as “a trusted supplier of hitmen”, citing cases in Gauteng and the Western Cape, where assassins traced back to the province were arrested.

International and local studies confirm warnings

Research by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime (GI-TOC) shows that for three of the last six years recorded, politically linked assassinations in KZN were as high or higher than all other provinces combined.

Of the 521 taxi killings recorded nationally since 2015, 173 were in KZN. The province also recorded the highest number of organised crime hits — 58 of 202 cases.

The Enact project, which tracks transnational organised crime, describes targeted killings in South Africa as part of a “professionalised industry of violence for hire” — one fed by taxi associations, criminal gangs, and even elements of the state’s own security forces.

High-profile cases illustrate the scale of the problem

In Pietermaritzburg, alleged gang members from the so-called “Ibandla” group face 27 charges including murder, rape, and armed robbery.

In a recent case, traditional leader inkosi Simphiwe Zuma and alleged gunmen Thembelani Mbatha and Deon Mathonsi are linked to a string of assassinations, family massacres, and political killings — stretching from Bulwer to Mpophomeni.

Hitmen have also confessed to the murders, as in the murder trial of former ANC Youth League secretary-general Sindiso Magaqa, where self-confessed hitman Sibusiso Ncengwa pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 25 years’ imprisonment.

The province has also been linked to national cases, including the murder of Cape Town lawyer Pete Mihalik and Gauteng Health whistleblower Babita Deokaran.

With KZN, Gauteng, Western Cape and Mpumalanga accounting for 83% of all serious violent crime in the country, experts warn that contract killings are now entrenched in South Africa’s criminal ecosystem.
De Haas says tackling the problem will require far more than arrests.

“Unless we dismantle the networks that sustain this industry of violence — from taxi bosses to corrupt officials — the cycle of killings will continue.”

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