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BREAKING: South Africa’s Famous striker Mark Batchelor shot dead

Well-known former Kaizer Chiefs soccer player Marc Batchelor has been shot dead in Olivedale in what appears to have been a hit, police confirmed with Eyewitness News on Monday night.

Pictures from the scene show that multiple shots were fired through the car window.

EWN understands attackers opened fire from the back of motorbikes. Police are investigating the incident.

Batchelor is one of the few players to have played for both Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates. The striker began his career in the USA in 1990 before returning to Wits two years later. Orlando Pirates the snapped him up another couple of years later.

Batchelor would go on to win the 1994 League title, 1995 African Champions Cup, 1996 BP Top 8 and 1996 African Super Cup. He also represented SuperSport United, Maroka Swallows and Mamelodi Sundowns.

Batchelor was also known for his off-field antics. In 1999 he was suspended by Chiefs for allegedly choking and threatening to kill a teammate.

After his playing career, Batchelor was an analyst on SuperSport before being taken off air in 2007 after allegations that he and three other men assaulted a Johannesburg businessperson at a restaurant in Parkhurst.

He was also a witness in the Oscar Pistorius murder trial, where he testified about the former Paralympian’s temper. Pistorius had a run-in with a friend of Batchelor’s, who the athlete suspected of being romantically linked to his girlfriend, model Reeva Steenkamp.

Batchelor also had close ties with Mikey Schulz, the man who confessed to killing mining magnet Brett Kebble in 2005.

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