Reuters —
Former boxing world champion Zolani “Last Bone” Tete was shot dead in front of his home in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province on Friday, police and the country’s sports minister announced.
The 38-year-old man was arriving at his home in Mdantsane district when two armed men wearing balaclavas got out of their car and opened fire.
“I will not speculate about who did this or why,” Sports Minister Gayton McKenzie said in a statement.
Tetteh’s murder will bring renewed attention to violent crime in South Africa, which maintains one of the highest murder rates in the world despite a recent decline in murders. The world champion’s killing also shocked the Mdantsane district of the Eastern Cape, which has produced some of South Africa’s most successful boxers.
A 27-year-old woman traveling with Tete was shot multiple times and taken to the hospital. Police have launched an investigation, but the motive remains unclear.
Tete won the IBF junior bantamweight world title in 2014 by defeating Japan’s Theil Kinoshita in Kobe. He later won the WBO bantamweight title.
He is best known internationally for his 11-second KO of fellow South African Siboniso Gonya in Belfast in November 2017, which was the fastest stoppage in a world title fight.
