Celani Sikhakhane brings you KwaZulu-Natal’s latest news.
Nquthu: The former mayor of Nquthu in northern KZN who caused controversy when he took the mayoral chain to his family kraal to report his election to the ancestors has returned to the IFP.
Mabilabila Kunene was fired from the IFP after bringing the party into disrepute by publicly declaring his support for then-candidate Velenkosini Hlabisa and wearing t-shirts bearing Hlabisa’s face instead of the then IFP president, Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi. Kunene later joined the Abantu Batho Congress (ABC) but failed to retain his ward in the by-election. He was recently seen at an IFP rally in Nquthu alongside other leaders.
Durban: The Durban Regional Court has sentenced 40-year-old Mapi Mhle Goba to life imprisonment after he pleaded guilty to the murder of 21-year-old Nondumiso Sbahle Dlamini in September 2025 near the Edwin Swales Highway.
In his plea, Goba said he met the deceased at traffic lights in the Mayville area on 12 September 2025, after they had arranged to go to a tavern together. After both became intoxicated, an argument broke out over money allegedly missing from his room. When the deceased shouted at him, he stabbed her in the neck and she fell into the bushes. Goba failed to report the incident and only disclosed the location of her body after his arrest, when a pointing out led police to her decomposed remains.
uMgungundlovu: Criminal activity in Pietermaritzburg and surrounding areas of uMgungundlovu District Municipality has forced local leadership to seek the intervention of Deputy President Paul Mashatile.
District mayor Mzi Zuma, invited the Deputy President under his delegated responsibility to assist the President in rolling out the District Development Model, improving municipal functioning and addressing community concerns including high levels of crime, service delivery failures, unemployment and poverty. Mashatile is expected to meet community members and crime-fighting structures this week to discuss plans to tackle the scourge threatening ordinary people and businesses.
Pictured above: Former Nquthu mayor Mabilabila Kunene, who took the mayoral chain to his family kraal, has returned to the IFP after being expelled several years ago.
Image source: Nquthu Local Municipality
