Five men were arrested in the early hours of Friday morning in connection with the murder of the Ehlanzeni district municipality chief whip Johan Holme Ndlovu, Mpumalanga police said

“The men were arrested in three different homes in Nyongane near  Hazyview,” Captain Leonard Hlathi said.

“Two cellphones allegedly belonging to the deceased were found in their possession and a firearm. The firearm was the murder weapon alleged to have been used to kill Ndlovu,” he said.

Ndlovu was shot, a few kilometres from his home, in the chest, left hand and buttocks in the early hours of Wednesday.

Ndlovu’s body was found by family members in some bush in Bushbuckridge after an unidentified man told his wife where to find  him.

The men were expected to appear in the Mhala Magistrate’s Court on Monday, Hlathi said.