Former world ‌boxing champion Zolani “Last Born” Tete was shot dead outside his home ‌in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province on Friday, police said.The 38-year-old was arriving at his residence in Mdantsane township when two armed men wearing balaclavas got ​out of a vehicle and opened fire.“I will not speculate about ⁠who did this or why,” South Africa’s sports minister Gayton ‌McKenzie ‌said ​in a statement.Tete’s killing will renew attention on violent crime in South Africa, ⁠which continues to ​have one of the world’s ​highest murder rates despite recent declines in homicides. ‌The murder of the world ​champion has also struck a chord in Mdantsane, ⁠the Eastern Cape township ⁠that ​has produced some of South Africa’s most successful boxers.A 27-year-old woman travelling with Tete was shot multiple times and taken to hospital. Police have started investigations and the motive remains unclear.Tete won the IBF junior-bantamweight world title in ‌2014 after defeating ⁠Japan’s Teiru Kinoshita in Kobe. He later won the WBO bantamweight crown.He is best remembered ‌internationally for his 11-second knockout of fellow South African Siboniso ​Gonya in Belfast in November 2017, the ​fastest stoppage in a world title fight.- Reuters(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2026