Drop in killings of polititians
Leaders praise Ramaphosa’s inter-ministerial committee and good work by police
POLITICAL leaders and civil society groups have expressed optimism that 2018 has set a tone in the fight against the killings of politicians in KwaZulu-Natal, as police have arrested a number of suspects.
A reduction in the crime that, for the past few years has painted the province as the most politically intolerant, has been credited to law enforcement agencies.
Premier Willies Mchunu and Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Zweli Mkhize also attributed the decrease in the killings to the Inter-Ministerial Committee of the Security Cluster, which President Cyril Ramaphosa deployed to KZN earlier this year.
The last politician to be killed in the province this year was eThekwini Municipality councillor S’bu Maphumulo. He was killed in his car after attending a community meeting in V-Section in uMlazi in October.
The IFP – whose Zululand District Municipality councillor Sibuyiselo Dlamini, and Zakhele Mazibuko, its publicity secretary in the Uthukela District, were killed this year – also commended the police’s good work.
Ramaphosa formed the team after
It is difficult to forecast if the trend will continue next year (with the election coming up)… MARY DE HAAS KZN violence monitor
the murder of ANC stalwart and former ANC councillor in Msunduzi Municipality, Pietermaritzburg, Msawenkosi “Qashana” Mchunu, whose assassination in May threatened to intensify political tensions within the ANC in the KZN Midlands.
Among the six suspects standing trial for Mchunu’s murder are Msunduzi Municipality ward councillor Nkosinathi Gambu and Gift Zungu, the son of uMgungundlovu District Municipality Mayor, Thandiwe Zungu.
Also killed this year was ANC Youth League leader Bongani Usher Mkhize, who was gunned down in uMlazi in July after he had attended the ANC’s provincial conference at DUT.
In May, ANC in the lower South Coast branch treasurer Sifiso Cele was shot dead at his Margate home.
Police Minister Bheki Cele formed Political Killing Task Teams, which began executing arrests.
ANC provincial spokesperson Nomagugu Simelane-Zulu said the beginning of the year was particularly bad when it came to the killing of “our comrades” but in the middle of the year “it became clear that police were beginning to act”.
IFP spokesperson Mkhuleko Hlengwa said the killing of Dlamini, who was also the IFP Youth Brigade district chairperson and IFP national council member, was an internal murder.
He said the party suspected that Mazibuko was killed for exposing corruption in the Uthukela District Municipality, where he worked as an occupational and health manager.
Hlengwa concurred that there has been an improvement of law enforcement this year.
During a South African Local Government Association National Assembly recently held in Durban, Mkhize said there had been 40 councillors killed in the province since 2012, mainly because of greed over lucrative resources of municipalities.
“It is a matter of concern if the death of a councillor is linked to some kind of irregularities at the procurement level,” he said.
Mchunu, who praised the inter-ministerial committee to the province, said some other murders could also be blamed on preparations for the 2016 local government elections.
He said the Moerane Commission of Inquiry into political killings in the province had linked most killings to local government power struggles.
Ramaphosa said the police action against killers of politicians should also be applied against people “who have put personal greed ahead of the interests of our people”.
Vanessa Burger, an independent community activist for human rights and social justice, said the year had seen a huge improvement.
“There have been lots of arrests and, in my opinion, it is because of agreement within the ANC for a ceasefire behind the scenes,” she said.
KZN violence monitor Mary de Haas said in the last few months, even the killing of Abahlali Basemjondolo and Glebelands Hostel dwellers, which she also described as politically-motivated, had decreased.
“It is difficult to forecast if the trend will continue next year. Some of the alleged main perpetrators have been arrested, which probably accounts for the improvement. But with the election coming up next year we don’t know what is going to happen.”