Four people now face arrest in South Africa over the murder of former two-time world boxing champion Zolani Tete, who gunmen ambushed outside his home in Mdantsane, Eastern Cape, on Friday.
The 38-year-old sat in his car, waiting for the gate to open, when two armed men wearing balaclavas stepped out of another vehicle and fired several shots.
A 27-year-old woman travelling with Tete also suffered gunshot wounds and remains in hospital.
Police arrested a 22-year-old man on Saturday and charged him with murder and attempted murder. He will appear in court today, while officers arrested three more suspects on Sunday. Two of them face charges for unlawfully possessing firearms and ammunition, and they will appear in court on Tuesday. Police have not yet established a motive for the attack.
Tete won the IBF super-flyweight title in 2014 before capturing the WBO bantamweight championship in 2017. That same year, he set a Guinness World Record for the fastest knockout in a world title fight, stopping Siboniso Gonya in just 11 seconds.
He last fought in July 2022, knocking out Britain’s Jason Cunningham in London, but officials later changed the result to a no-contest after a drugs test detected the banned anabolic steroid stanozolol in his sample. UK Anti-Doping then handed him a four-year ban, which ended in July this year, and Tete had begun training for a comeback.
He ended his career with 29 wins from 34 fights, including 22 knockouts, four defeats, and one no-contest. Tributes have continued to pour in, with South Africa’s Sports Minister, Gayton McKenzie, describing Tete as one of the finest fighters the country has produced.
