Mdantsane – Police have launched a manhunt for the assailants of the former boxing world champion Zolani Tete, who was shot dead at his NU17, Mdantsane home on Friday evening.
Police in the Eastern Cape said two suspects wearing balaclavas opened fire on the boxer’s car as he arrived home, killing the 38-year-old Tete and seriously injuring a 27-year-old woman travelling with him.
The motive for the attack on Friday, 21 August 2026, remains unknown.
Speaking to SABC TV, Tete’s distraught father, Zolile Tete, said the assailants should have rather killed him instead and let his son live.
The boxer’s life revolved around family, going to the gym, attending church, and choir practice, making it difficult to understand why anyone would want to harm him, the father said.
The boxer was the breadwinner of his family and had been expected to partake in a boxing bout later this year in November after completing a four-year ban.
The former WBO bantamweight and IBF junior-bantamweight world champion’s ban stemmed from a positive test for stanozolol after his 2022 fight.
The tribunal ruled he failed to prove the violation was unintentional, enforcing the maximum penalty under anti‑doping rules.
Tete’s long‑time manager, Mlandeli Tengimfene, lamented, “Zolani is gone… 21 days after his unbanning…we had plans of him fighting on the 29th of November.”
The police are investigating, but no arrests have been reported yet.
