A shopkeeper who refused to sell cigarettes during the lockdown was stabbed to death, police said on Thursday.

Spokesperson Brig Vishnu Naidoo said the shopkeeper's colleague at a superette in Malmesbury, in the Western Cape, was stabbed in the neck but survived.

Naidoo said the attacks happened after Kalbaskraal Superette closed on Wednesday. The shopkeepers were in the back room when they heard a knock on the door at 7.30pm.

“They asked who it was. The person identified himself, and because they knew who it was they opened the door for him.

“The visitor asked the shopkeepers if he could buy cigarettes. They said no and an argument ensued. The suspect then stabbed the two shopkeepers with a knife. Both were stabbed once in the neck.

“The two victims went out the front door of the shop to look for help and members of the public phoned for an ambulance the police.

“Upon arrival of the ambulance, one of the victims, a 27-year-old, had already died, while the second was taken to a local hospital, where he is being treated.”

Naidoo said Malmesbury police traced the suspect and arrested him in the Cape Town suburb of Belhar at 4am on Thursday.

“The suspect will be facing charges of murder and attempted murder,” he said.

Cigarette and alcohol sales have been banned during the national Covid-19 lockdown

-TimesLIVE