KZN school shooting suspect found almost five years after the incident

By Palesa Nguqu

A suspect involved in the killing of a KwaZulu-Natal school principal has been killed in a shoot-out with police at a hostel in Soweto in Johannesburg on Sunday.

The 40-year-old suspect was linked to the murder of Zwelebantu Zuma, a Msinga school principal who was shot and killed in his office at the school in 2020.

According to the South African Police Service (SAPS) the suspect was a person of interest in various other cases in KwaZulu-Natal involving car hijacking and possession of an unlicensed firearm.

He was tracked down by a tactical unit of the SAPS.

SAPS spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe said in statement on Monday, “Members of the National Intervention Unit(NIU) tracked down the suspect to a hostel in Mapetla Soweto. When the suspect noticed the presence of the police, he began shooting and the NIU returned fire fatally wounding him.’’

Two other accused in the case of the murder of Zwelabantu Zuma are already serving life sentences, while another died before the case went to trial.

SAPS is still on the lookout for one suspect.

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