Mbhashe local municipality has lost six councillors during the current council term, with the latest victim, a veteran educator, shot dead in front of his children at his rural home in Dutywa on Friday night.
The murder of Ernest Fipaza, 63, an ANC councillor since the 2021 local government elections and the SACP’s Ward 10 candidate for the November 4 polls, has deepened fears over the wave of killings that has engulfed villages around Dutywa, Willowvale and Elliotdale since November 2021.
Fipaza was killed at his home in Bende village in the Taleni administrative area.
His death makes him the second ward candidate in the Eastern Cape to be shot dead ahead of this year’s municipal elections, following the killing of Ngawonke Bulala, 35, the ANC candidate for Kumkani Mhlontlo Ward 14, who was buried in Qumbu on Saturday.
Fipaza’s wife, Nomhle, a schoolteacher, was away on a school trip when she received a call informing her that her husband had been killed.
The educator was also a farmer, president of the farmers' association in the area and chair of the Bende Maize Association.
Before retiring to become a councillor, he served as principal at three schools in Dutywa — Notinarha Primary School, Dinizulu High and Morison High.
His family has called for the arrest and conviction of those responsible, saying they wanted to know who ordered the killing and why.
“My father was not only a father to us but was a pillar of the Fipaza mighty family — he was the head of the entire family," his son, Phaphama, 28, said.
"We have been robbed of such a hero, the man who loved his entire family and was a leader of note.
“We all know that he cannot come back, but all we want to know is the motive.
"Who killed our father and why, and how much has been paid to kill him?
"We believe that the men who killed our father were hired hitmen and we would like to know who sent them and why.
"We have been robbed of the best dad in the universe.”
The family is preparing to bury Fipaza on November 7, just days after the municipal elections in which he had hoped to retain his seat as an SACP candidate, a partner in the ANC-led tripartite alliance.
Phaphama said the family had been robbed of a father and a leader whose influence extended beyond his immediate household.
Fipaza’s killing comes amid a wider pattern of violence against political representatives and traditional leaders in the Amathole region.
The neighbouring Mnquma local municipality has lost five councillors during the same term, one shot dead near his home and four who died of natural causes.
The combined number of councillors who have died in the two municipalities is 11, while at least six traditional leaders have also been gunned down during this period.
The SACP, ANC, Eastern Cape provincial government and provincial police commissioner have condemned the killings.
Community safety MEC Xolile Nqatha, Mbhashe mayor Dr Samnkelo Janda, council speaker Babalwa Majavu, police management from the Amathole district and Dutywa police station, and ANC and SACP leaders visited the bereaved family on Sunday.
Provincial commissioner Lieutenant-General Vuyisile Ncata condemned the fatal shooting and announced that additional police resources would be deployed to support the investigation.
“A task team from the Provincial Serious and Violent Crime Investigation Unit has been assigned to investigate the case,” police said.
A distraught Janda said the municipality was mourning the loss of a councillor just two weeks before the end of the current term.
“We call upon police to move with speed and arrest the killers," Janda said.
"His killing saw the number of murdered councillors increase to three, while another died of natural causes, and we have got several traditional leaders and their families gunned down in cold blood in Willowvale as the gun violence in Willowvale intensifies.
"The municipality is under a dark cloud.”
Daily Dispatch