Zolani Tete: four arrested after boxer killed

South African police said Monday they had arrested four people in connection with the killing of Zolani Tete, a former two-time boxing world champion.

Police said Tete, 38, was attacked on Friday evening as he returned to his home in Mdantsane in Eastern Cape province. A 27-year-old woman who was with him in the car survived and is in hospital.

The four suspects, aged between 22 and 28, were arrested over the weekend, police said. One has been formally charged with murder.

Tete won the IBF junior-bantamweight world title in 2014 and the WBO bantamweight world title in 2017. In 2017, he recorded an 11-second knockout in a world championship bout while retaining his WBO bantamweight title.

The UK Anti-Doping Agency gave Tete a four-year ban in 2023 that ended on July 29. He had been preparing to return to professional boxing.

South African Sports Minister Gayton McKenzie said the country had lost “one of the finest fighters it has ever produced”.