GUGULETHU, WESTERN CAPE — A wave of mourning has swept through the community following the fatal shooting of Leon Ngcikwe, a Build One South Africa (BOSA) ward candidate in Gugulethu. The 37-year-old political activist was gunned down on Saturday night, marking a grim escalation in political violence just as the nation concluded its voter registration weekend.
Serving as the representative for Ward 38, Ngcikwe’s life was cut short under devastating circumstances. According to initial reports, the incident occurred shortly after he had finished dropping off fellow party activists. Despite being urgently transported to a local medical facility, he tragically died from the severe gunshot wounds he sustained during the attack.
The assassination of the BOSA candidate is part of a deeply troubling spike in bloodshed that marred the recent voter registration period. Ngcikwe’s death shares a grim timeline with the murders of two other prominent political figures. Over the same weekend, Sinovuyo Dyokwe, a Democratic Alliance (DA) ward candidate based in Dunoon, and African National Congress (ANC) councillor Sicelo Mleve in Gqeberha were also killed.
This alarming cluster of targeted attacks has triggered urgent warnings from the South African Local Government Association (SALGA). The organization has publicly expressed severe concern regarding the dangerous surge in violence directed at local government candidates and sitting ward councillors nationwide.
In the wake of the tragedy, Build One South Africa released a heartfelt statement honoring Ngcikwe’s legacy. The party remembered him as a passionate public servant who was profoundly committed to the betterment of his neighborhood, noting that his efforts to uplift others left a lasting impact on the area.
Roger Solomons, the spokesperson for BOSA, paid tribute to the fallen activist, describing him as a “dedicated community leader and a committed activist who believed deeply in building a safer, more prosperous future for the people of his community.”
Addressing the broader implications of the tragedy, Solomons emphasized the urgent need to combat the normalization of violent crime in the country.
“Every day, communities across our country are torn apart by violent crime, leaving families shattered and neighbourhoods living in fear,” Solomons stated. He added that the loss of Ngcikwe serves as a “painful reminder of the devastating human cost of a crime crisis that has been allowed to spiral out of control.”
BOSA has strongly condemned the senseless killing, urging law enforcement to launch a comprehensive and transparent probe to apprehend the perpetrators and bring them to justice. Meanwhile, the Western Cape police are preparing to officially open a murder docket as detectives work to uncover the motives and circumstances surrounding the fatal shooting.