A 29-year-old man was shot and killed outside his girlfriend’s residence in Buffelsdraai, KwaZulu-Natal, in the early hours of Friday, 25 September 2026, after two suspects kidnapped him and a woman, robbed them, broke into the property, and then confronted the woman’s boyfriend as he arrived home from work.
First responders were called out at approximately 01:12. On arrival it was established that two suspects had approached a man and a woman who were speaking on the main road. The woman had been returning home after consuming alcohol at a neighbour’s residence when she met the man, who was a friend of her boyfriend.
According to the male victim, the suspects were dropped off by a white vehicle. They approached the pair and produced a firearm. Both victims were forced into the boot of a vehicle and driven further along Buffelsdraai Road.
The suspects stopped and assaulted the victims while demanding cash. The woman told them there was a safe containing money at her residence.
The suspects then went to the property, forced open a burglar guard and gained entry. They removed a safe that was reported to contain an undisclosed amount of cash and a licensed firearm belonging to the woman’s boyfriend, who was at work at the time.
The woman was also forced to unlock her cellphone and access her banking application. The suspects checked her balance and transferred R10 000 from her account.
One suspect remained outside guarding the male victim. That victim was robbed of his smartphone and forced underneath a vehicle. The second suspect was inside the residence with the woman. She was left unconscious but later regained consciousness. No injuries were reported for her.
As the suspects were leaving on foot, they encountered the woman’s boyfriend arriving from work in a dark grey Volkswagen Polo. They confronted him at the gate, shot him once in the face, and fled in his vehicle.
Paramedics declared the 29-year-old deceased at the scene.
Buffelsdraai is a township in the eThekwini Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal, north of Durban, near Verulam. The incident took place on and around Buffelsdraai Road and at a private residence in the area.
The sequence of events, as established at the scene, was: the pair were approached on the main road; both were forced into a vehicle boot and driven along Buffelsdraai Road; they were assaulted and cash was demanded; the suspects were directed to the residence; a burglar guard was forced open; a safe containing cash and a licensed firearm was removed; R10 000 was transferred from the woman’s bank account after she was forced to open her banking application; the male victim was held outside, robbed of his phone and forced under a vehicle; the woman was left unconscious inside and later regained consciousness; the suspects then met the boyfriend at the gate as he arrived in the dark grey VW Polo, shot him once in the face, and fled in that vehicle.
The deceased was 29 years old. The licensed firearm taken from the safe belonged to him. The amount of cash in the safe was not disclosed. The R10 000 transfer from the woman’s account was confirmed as having taken place after the suspects accessed her banking application.
No further official identification of the deceased, the woman, or the suspects had been publicly released at the time of writing. No arrests were reported in the immediate aftermath of the incident. The stolen dark grey VW Polo and the white vehicle that initially dropped the suspects off had not been publicly accounted for.
The call-out time was approximately 01:12 on Friday morning. The shooting of the 29-year-old occurred as the suspects were leaving the property on foot and met him at the gate. He was declared dead at the scene.
The facts established at the scene remain limited to the account given by the surviving male victim, the condition of the woman after she regained consciousness, the items removed from the property, the bank transfer, the stolen vehicle, and the single gunshot wound to the face that killed the 29-year-old man.
Sydenham massacre suspect arrested in Melmoth after nearly five years
A suspect wanted for the killing of nine people in Sydenham, Durban, in October 2021 has been arrested in northern KwaZulu-Natal, almost five years after the shootings.
Detectives from the KwaZulu-Natal Murder and Robbery Unit arrested the man in the Obuka area of Melmoth on Wednesday night, 23 September 2026. Police said he had been hiding there. He is expected to appear in the Durban Magistrate’s Court on Friday, 25 September 2026, on multiple counts of murder.
The case dates to Saturday, 16 October 2021. That night, six people were shot and killed at a house in the Palmiet Road informal settlement in Sydenham. A short distance from that house, three more people were shot and killed in two further incidents the same night. Police said they believed the same suspects were responsible.
At the time, police said the victims were shot in the head and that 9mm cartridge cases were recovered at three houses. Community members told police they believed two men were involved. The investigation was referred to the Murder and Robbery Unit.
Two suspects were later identified. One was traced to Empangeni. Police said he resisted arrest and was fatally wounded in a shootout with officers. The second suspect remained at large until this week’s arrest in Melmoth.
Contemporaneous reporting after the 2021 shootings identified victims at the first house as including two children, Thandolwethu Mathangana, aged about five or six, and Yanga Mathangana, aged about nine, as well as adults including Ncedani Mndaweni, also reported as Sibayanda Nceclani, Hombakazi Baliso, also reported as Bauso Hombakazi, Clifford Moyo, and a woman identified in some reports only as Nowinte or as unidentified at the scene. Relatives said the children’s mother was not in the house at the time. Two other people found dead nearby were identified as Fikiswa Shomela and a man known locally as Patcha. A ninth victim, Siphelele Maphisa, also reported as Sphesihle Maphisa, was found dead in another dwelling. Police contemporaneous statements confirmed nine dead across the three scenes.
Police have not publicly named the man arrested in Melmoth.
The same Murder and Robbery Unit is also investigating a separate mass shooting in the Ziko area of KwaMakhutha, south of Durban, on Tuesday night, 22 September 2026. Police said 13 men and one woman, believed to have been pregnant, were at a house when three men arrived and opened fire. Ten people, including the woman, died at the scene. Four others were taken to hospital. One of those later died, bringing the death toll to 11. Three people were injured.
Acting National Police Commissioner Lieutenant-General Puleng Dimpane directed KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi to activate a 72-hour tracking operation for the KwaMakhutha suspects. Police said some of the victims were known to Crime Intelligence in connection with alleged illegal activities, but they declined to give further detail so as not to compromise the investigation. The motive has not been confirmed. Police said a feud between rival groupings could not be ruled out. Detectives said they were following several leads.
Anyone with information on either investigation is asked to contact Crime Stop anonymously on 08600 10111 or the nearest police station.
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