IFP MP gunned down in Gauteng
The Inkatha Freedom Party has confirmed the death of one of its senior members, Khethamabala Petros Sithole, who was shot in Katlehong on the East Rand on Saturday evening.
Sithole served as a member of the party’s National Council and was also the deputy chief whip in the National Assembly.
In a statement, the IFP labelled the killing as an "assassination" carried out by unknown assailants.
“Details are still sketchy at the moment, and it is the IFP’s expectation that the law enforcement agencies will spare no effort to bring the perpetrators of this heinous crime to justice,” the party said.
The 68-year-old veteran politician had been with the IFP since his youth and served the party in several leadership capacities.
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He was formerly the IFP’s Gauteng provincial chairperson, an Ekurhuleni councillor, and briefly served in the Gauteng legislature from 2009 to 2010. He was later deployed to the National Assembly in 2010, where he remained an active and committed MP until his death.
The party paid tribute to Sithole as a devoted and principled leader, describing him as “a hard-working servant leader of the people and the country,” and added that “the IFP is poorer today with Jobe’s passing, and South Africa has lost a good man who served his country par excellence".
The motive behind the killing remains unclear, and investigations are ongoing.
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