South African police say three men, including a newly elected councillor for the ruling African National Congress, have been shot dead.
Police said a gunman killed the victims while they were sleeping in a house late Saturday in the country's eastern province of KwaZulu-Natal.
Officials said the killing could be politically motivated.
The victim had been elected last week in local government polls.
The ANC won a sweeping victory in last week's elections with 66 percent of the vote. Its closest rival, the opposition Democratic Alliance, won about 14 percent.
Prior to the election, analysts had said voters were angry with the ANC for not providing basic services to many residents. The local elections were widely seen as a test of voters' loyalty to the party that brought down apartheid.
Some information for this report was provided by Reuters.