Zolani Tete was ambushed outside his home in Mdantsane, Eastern Cape, on Friday evening, shot dead by two armed suspects wearing balaclavas as he waited for his gate to open. The 38-year-old former world champion had just arrived at his residence when the attack occurred. A 27-year-old woman in the vehicle with him was also shot multiple times and remains hospitalized, according to Gayton McKenzie, South Africa’s sports, arts and culture minister, who confirmed the killing late that night.
Local authorities have opened an investigation. The assault, carried out in daylight at a private address, was brazen in its execution, and the circumstances that led to it remain unclear.
Tete’s boxing record was built across multiple weight classes and more than two decades of professional competition. He captured the IBF junior-bantamweight world title in 2014, defeating Teiru Kinoshita on points in Japan. Before that, he held the WBF flyweight title from 2007 to 2008. He claimed the WBO bantamweight championship in both 2017 and 2019. His most striking moment came in a 2017 title fight against Siboniso Gonya, when he landed an 11-second knockout with his opening punch, a record that still stands as the fastest knockout in world-title boxing history.
A southpaw with a distinctive style, Tete finished his professional career with 29 victories, 22 of them by knockout, alongside four defeats and one no contest.
His final professional appearance came in July 2022 at Wembley Arena in London, where he defeated British boxer Jason Cunningham. That result was subsequently overturned after Tete tested positive for stanozolol, a banned anabolic steroid. He received a four-year suspension, which he consistently disputed, insisting he had not knowingly ingested the prohibited substance.
The suspension expired in July of this year. Tete had been working toward a comeback when he was killed. No details about potential opponents or a specific return date had been publicly announced.
What remains unresolved is whether investigators will establish a motive for an attack that cut short not only a life but a carefully planned second chapter in a career that had already survived one serious interruption. Further reporting is available at https://www.aljazeera.com/sports/2026/8/22/former-world-champion-boxer-zolani-tete-shot-and-killed-in-south-africa.