The fourth since the inauguration of the democratic government in 1994, the 2011 local government elections took place against a familiar backdrop of violent community protests, impelled by discontent over service delivery. Unlike in the past, however, a protestor was brutally killed in broad daylight by the police in full view of the public. A record number of candidates registered to contest the elections, with similarly more parties contesting than in the previous local elections. Among them was a new party, the National Freedom Party (NFP), which threatened the sustainability of the old, established party that had spawned it, the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP). The hitherto hegemonic African National Congress (ANC) seemed not to have rid itself of the internal ructions that had destabilised the party following particularly the outcome of its 52nd National Congress in Polokwane.