The death march goes on in KZN

Police crime stats released by the police in October 2017 showed a slight increase in murder rates: they were up by 1.84%, or 19 000 people murdered in the course of the year from March 2016 to March 2017, about 400 more than the year before.

The Moerane commission continued its probe into political killings in KwaZulu-Natal in 2017, but the killings did not abate.

In Richmond alone, deputy mayor Thandazile Phoswa was shot at in her home, municipal manager Sbusiso Sithole was ambushed and shot dead, and former councillor Ntokozo “Lithi” Maphumulo, who was seen as a key figure in the ANC’s by-election win on the South Coast, was assassinated as he arrived home.

The former Mkhambathini Ward 7 branch chair, Lungisani Mnguni, was killed just ahead of the

ANC’s national conference in December. ANC Youth League leaders Sthe Mhlongo and Sindiso Magaqa were also gunned down. Former ANC councillors Bogani Reginal Msomi and Khaya Mgcwaba were murdered, as were Umzimkhulu municipality speaker Khaya Thobela and councillor Mduduzi Tshibase.

Glebelands hostel continues to be the epicentre of a deadly war. More than 100 people have died there since 2014, despite peace efforts.

The count for 2017 so far is 19 people, at least 15 of them shot to death. Several are still unidentified.

Sibonelo Patrick Mpeku, the chairperson of the Sisonke Village branch of the shackdwellers’ association Abahlali baseMjondolo (AbM) was kidnapped and murdered — the latest of several AbM people to die. The movement blamed ANC and Umkhonto weSizwe Military Veterans’ Association members.