The two young but hardened hitmen who shot and killed a KwaZulu-Natal teacher who was vying for a vacant principal position have been found guilty.

Sibonelo Bhongo Sibiya (25) and Bheki Gabriel Dube (27) were found guilty by the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Wednesday.

They killed Busani Khomo at Sikhethuxolo High School in Hammarsdale, in the west of Durban, in December 2024.

The court found that the motive for killing Khomo was that he was a frontrunner for the vacant position of principal in the school. His rivals then hired the two to eliminate him by killing him.

As directed by Khomo’s rivals, the hitmen waylaid him while he was leaving the school on 5 December 2024 and shot him several times, killing him on the spot.

His car crashed into a parked Mercedes-Benz, which was near the scene of the crime.

Khomo was also a South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU) activist in the eThekwini region.