South Africa's Deadly Politics | Witness

Ziyanda Ngcobo is a young, ambitious journalist known for reporting on the scourge of political violence in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

The province has seen more than 500 political assassinations since the country's first democractic elections in 1994, as politicians fall prey to a deadly scramble for state resources and contracts.

Ziyanda is now investigating the murder of Sindiso Magaqa, a popular local politician and member of the ruling ANC party known for his anti-corruption work. He was fatally shot in July 2017.

As the murder trial plays out across the nation's TV screens, Ziyanda revisits the scene of the crime looking for answers. She also speaks to a politician who has become a whistle-blower against corruption and is a key witness to the murder.

Her investigation takes her to the Glebelands hostel complex, where the murder rate is four times the national average and a high unemployment rate means residents are more vulnerable to being hired as hitmen.

Many of those who witnessed these killings, or whose loved ones were lost, face threats of their own and still live in fear.

Ziyanda is determined to continue reporting despite the dangers, working all hours of the day to get the story out.

South Africa's Deadly Politics follows Ziyanda as she pushes issues of political violence into the national spotlight, determined to expose what she sees as an absolute threat to post-apartheid South Africa and its democracy.

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