Another SACP member killed in KwaZulu-Natal

LONDIWE MHLONGO, the latest victim in the political violence ravaging KwaZuluNatal’s Inchanga township, lived in fear and knew her days were numbered.

She had even sold her home, with a view to leaving the area, a friend of hers said yesterday.

Mhlongo 31, an active SACP member, was gunned down while walking with friends on Sunday. She was the third person shot since Thursday. The others were seriously injured, but survived.

She was not so lucky, and was the second woman killed in Inchanga since the killings began early last year. The other was party activist Ntsiki Blose.

The violence in the area has been linked to the clashes between the SACP and ANC, in which more than 10 people have been shot and killed since last year.

The dispute began during the nomination of candidates to stand for last year’s local government elections.

So serious was the rift that the alliance partners fielded different candidates.

The ANC candidate was defeated by the SACP’s Malombo Nxumalo, a relative of former mayor and SACP provincial chairperson James Nxumalo.

Speaking about the Sunday night shooting, a friend who was with Mhlongo at the time said they did not see the shooter.

“We were walking on a narrow, dark path. One of our friends was in the front, Mhlongo in the middle and I was at the back,” said the friend, who did not want to be named.

“We heard gunfire and ran in different directions. I ran home as that was the direction we had come from. It was only when the second friend arrived that we realised Mhlongo was not with us,” he said.

“We were too frightened to look for her, so we called police. We went to the scene and she was lying there. We did not see who shot at us as it was dark. The person was probably lying in wait,” he said.

Office of the Premier spokesperson Ndabezinhle Sibiya said a commission of inquiry into the killings would be “up and running soon”.

Police spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Thulani Zwane said a case of murder was being investigated.