Pamela Mabini, a fierce champion of human rights and a voice for the voiceless, was shot dead in her car in Kwazakhele in Gqeberha on Friday morning.

The Daily Dispatch’s 2023 Local Hero, 46, was found in her white Chevrolet SS Lumina bakkie in Tshauka Street.

Police spokesperson Capt Sandra Janse van Rensburg said she was shot inside the bakkie at about 10.30am.

Mabini had been well-known in the Bay’s townships — distributing food, hygiene products and school supplies, always working quietly behind the scenes to make life better for those in need.

In 2014 she left her corporate career to start the Maro Foundation, where she provided shelter and care for abandoned children and the disabled, giving them a home and a future.