The ANC on Sunday expressed shock at the killing of the party's parliamentarian, Bheki Mkhize, who was shot during a police raid on his home at Mhlabatini in northern KwaZulu-Natal earlier in the day.
Mkhize, 40, was shot in the head with an R-5 rifle when members from the public order police unit at Ulundi raided his house in search of weapons.
The ANC's national office said news of his "mysterious death" was received with grief and a great sense of loss.
ANC leaders in the province, including provincial chairperson S'bu Ndebele, were investigating circumstances surrounding his death, the ANC statement said.
"We appeal to law enforcement agencies to leave no stone unturned in investigating circumstances leading to Mkhize's death and to ensure the killers are brought to book."
Meanwhile, different versions of what happened, have emerged.
According to the police inspector who allegedly fired the fatal shot, Mkhize tried to grab his firearm during a scuffle. Whereas the ANC representative for the area, Phillemon Ntuli, said Mkhize's hands were in the air.
Ntuli also alleged that police did not have a search warrant and that they used a boy to lure Mkhize out of the home.
"The boy called 'uncle uncle'. When comrade Mkhize came out they allegedly ordered him to bring out the weapons. He informed them he had only his official weapon." Police confirmed that Mkhize's .38 revolver was the only weapon found at the scene.
Ulundi police spokesperson Inspector Sabelo Zwane also confirmed that police did not have a search warrant for Mkhize's property. He said due to the urgency of the tip-off there was no time to obtain one.
"They were in the area searching other houses when they got the information," Zwane said.
The Independent Complaints Directorate has taken over the investigation and provincial head Stix Mdladla said the inspector would be arrested. Mdladla said a charge of murder would be investigated.
Mkhize lived in Johannesburg where he was MP for Randburg and had been visiting his home in KwaZulu-Natal for a family function at the time of the shooting.
Mkhize was also a founding member of the National Education, Health and Allied Workers' Union (Nehawu), of which he was the president from 1987 to 1992.
Mkhize became a Member of Parliament in 1995.
In a separate incident on Saturday night an IFP chairperson was shot dead at Dark City in the Sundumbili area, north of Durban.
KwaZulu-Natal police spokesperson Captain Vishnu Naidoo said Bongani Mthimkulu was shot by unknown gunmen outside a local shebeen while sitting in his vehicle. A passenger in the car was not hurt.
The motive for the murder was not known. - Sapa