In South Africa, inkabis (Zulu slang for hitmen) are not opportunistic freelancers; they are professionals kept on retainer. Syndicates, taxi bosses, and political patrons house, feed, and arm them, ensuring they are always ready to act. For a monthly fee often between R10,000 and R50,000 depending on reputation and precision a killer remains on standby. The arrangement is chillingly simple: when a target is named, he executes; when idle, he waits, sustained by blood money.

And sometimes, murder is even cheaper. A life can be taken for as little as R4,500  less than the cost of hiring a lawyer to draft legal papers.

Murder for Hire as a Business Model

The system is structured, not sporadic. In some cases, squads are maintained permanently living together in compounds, supported by syndicates, and “activated” whenever profits or political standing are threatened. In others, skilled individuals, such as former police officers or soldiers, operate as freelancers but keep standing agreements with patrons.

The chilling normalisation of this arrangement has transformed assassins into a form of human capital. Just as companies budget for legal fees, some organisations now budget for assassination.

“In South Africa, a hit can cost less than a court appearance.”

Who Are the Killers?

Contrary to the stereotype of reckless township gunmen, many inkabis are highly trained professionals. They include:

• Former police and soldiers: trained in weapons, tactics, and surveillance.
• Taxi hit squads: young men hardened by daily violence and territorial wars.
• Freelancers: hired hands drifting between gangs and politicians, their loyalty dictated by cash flow.

Alarmingly, former members of elite police units once trained in counter-terrorism, hostage rescue, and high-risk operations have allegedly been drawn into the underworld. Some police officers have even been accused of moonlighting as hitmen, executing contracts by night while wearing the badge by day. When law enforcement itself crosses that line, the boundary between protector and predator collapses completely.

During my own policing career, I arrested hitmen found in possession of high-powered firearms traced back to a licensed gun shop. These were not crude weapons smuggled across borders, but firearms diverted from legitimate supply chains. Worse still, a senior SAPS colonel was convicted of renting out confiscated firearms to criminal syndicates. Those very weapons meant to be destroyed ended up in the hands of contract killers.

This is the hidden artery that sustains the industry: a flow of weapons and expertise from the very institutions meant to protect society.

Political and Business Collusion

South Africa’s murder-for-hire economy is not limited to gang rivalries. It extends deep into the state, labour unions, and business:

• Municipalities and tenders: Multi-million rand contracts have become triggers for assassination. Councillors who threaten irregular deals are swiftly silenced.
• Taxi industry: The most notorious sector, where routes and ranks are controlled through murder.
• Private sector: Whistleblowers, community activists, and business rivals are targeted when they interfere with profit.

I have personally led close protection teams for municipal leaders in KwaZulu-Natal during periods of heightened assassination threats. These were not exaggerated fears – they were responses to credible intelligence that killers were on standby, paid to silence leadership before elections or contract awards.

“When killers are kept on retainer, democracy is the first victim.”

The Vanishing State Response

Even the state has struggled — and failed — to confront this economy of death. South Africa once established a Political Killings Task Team to investigate the surge of assassinations linked to party rivalries and tender corruption. But the unit was eventually shut down, leaving a vacuum.

At the same time, SAPS is buckling under the weight of violent crime. Detection rates remain dismally low, with investigators under-resourced, overwhelmed, and in some cases complicit. For hitmen, the risk of arrest is minimal, and the business of killing continues unchecked.

The closure of the Task Team sent a devastating signal: the state was retreating. Contract killings filled the vacuum and spread  from politics to business, from taxi ranks to private disputes.

Case Study: A Hit for R5 Million

One of the most shocking cases involved the alleged assassination of a gang boss, carried out by a former member of an elite police unit. The fee? R5 million.

This shattered the illusion that elite policing expertise was beyond corruption. It demonstrated how state-trained operatives could be co-opted by syndicates with deep pockets. When men trained in counter-terrorism and hostage rescue can be hired like mercenaries, it signals a dangerous convergence of state skill sets with private criminal demand.

Research and Evidence: Hitmen for Hire

Mark Shaw’s groundbreaking book, Hitmen for Hire: Exposing South Africa’s Underworld, provides academic weight to what many in policing already knew: the country has developed one of the world’s most sophisticated assassination markets.

Shaw documents how inkabis are recruited, how patronage networks sustain them, and how assassinations have shifted from isolated incidents to systemic tools of control. His conclusion is blunt: South Africa’s “murder-for-hire economy” is no longer a criminal side industry – it is a parallel system of governance competing directly with the state.

 A Victim’s Story: Silencing Dissent

Consider the councillor in KwaZulu-Natal who raised concerns about irregular tender allocations. Within weeks, he was shot dead in front of his family. His murder was not simply a personal tragedy; it was a warning to others: speak out, and you will be silenced.

Stories like his are repeated across provinces. Each assassination erases not just a life, but a voice of accountability.

International Parallels

South Africa is not alone in facing an assassination economy:

• Mexico: Drug cartels keep sicarios on permanent payrolls, housed and armed by cartels like Los Zetas.
• Brazil: Militias and rogue police officers moonlight as killers for hire.
• Kenya: Election cycles trigger political killings, silencing rivals and activists.

But South Africa’s crisis is unique in its scale, frequency, and political entanglement, making it one of the world’s most active murder for hire markets outside of open warzones.

The Consequences for Society

The impact is devastating:

• Democracy under siege: Candidates assassinated before challenging corrupt incumbents.
• Silenced voices: Whistleblowers and journalists living under constant threat.
• Fear culture: Communities desensitised, expecting murder as part of daily life.
• Weakening law enforcement: Police infiltration and complicity eroding public trust.

Why Retainers Work: Weak Institutions

The very existence of killers on retainer exposes the cracks in South Africa’s institutions:

• Ineffective intelligence capacity: Crime Intelligence repeatedly criticised for political capture and failure.
• Witness intimidation: With no credible protection, few dare testify against patrons.
• Corruption within SAPS: Officers bribed, or worse, hired directly as guns-for-hire.
• Case backlogs and lenient bail: Arrested inkabis often back on the street within weeks.

These weaknesses make the system sustainable. Patrons pay retainers because they know impunity is almost guaranteed.

Breaking the Retainer Cycle

To dismantle South Africa’s murder for hire economy requires both institutional reform and cultural change:

• Specialised anti-assassination units with independence from political interference.
• Gun tracing technology to track diverted SAPS firearms.
• Financial tracing of retainer payments through bank accounts and cash networks.
• Whistleblower protection with real relocation programs, not token promises.
• Public accountability in tender systems and municipalities where most killings originate.

Assassination in Numbers

• Over 1,000 political assassinations documented since 2012.
• 70% of hits linked to politics and the taxi industry.
• KwaZulu-Natal remains the epicentre, councillors murdered almost monthly.
• Thousands of SAPS firearms lost or stolen over the last two decades, many used in hits.
• Police officers implicated in supplying, renting, or directly carrying out killings.

Conclusion: Death on Call

When killers are kept on retainer, life becomes cheap, and justice becomes irrelevant. Councillors are gunned down in their homes, taxi drivers ambushed at ranks, businessmen executed at traffic lights.

The retainer system of murder for hire represents the collapse of accountability into a marketplace of violence. Killing has become a service — budgeted, paid for, and kept on call.

If left unchecked, assassinations will define elections, silence journalists, and hollow out democracy until South Africa becomes indistinguishable from a mafia state.

About the Author

Armand Badenhorst is a former member of the South African Police Service, where he specialised in Hostage Negotiation and High-Risk operations. He holds a National Diploma in Policing and currently oversees residential security operations. Armand is furthering his expertise through advanced studies in business and estate management, with a focus on strategic solutions in private security and property governance.

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