Assassinations linked to ANC feuds

TENSIONS are running high in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands following the assassination of two ANC officials.

The murders happened as infighting over the selection of ANC candidates for the local government elections intensifies across the country.

The victims were officials in an ANC branch in Pietermaritzburg. Both were shot dead this week in what is believed to have been hits related to a continuing feud over the party’s choice of candidates.

Disputes over the ANC’s candidates list for the August elections have led to turmoil in party structures across the country.

In eThekwini, several ANC councillors left off the lists have registered as independents.

In the Western Cape, the infighting has resulted in the postponement of an election manifesto launch. Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa had been due to address the launch today.

Dissatisfied Gauteng members marched to Luthuli House during the week to demand that their preferred candidates be included on the provincial lists.

ANC members in Pietermaritzburg spoke of their fear following the killing of Edendale branch chairman Nathi Hlongwa and branch treasurer Simo Mncwabe. Neither man lived in the area they represented.

Mncwabe, 39, had resigned on Monday as Mooi Mpofana municipality chief financial officer after threats to his life. He was shot while taking his children to school in Henley Dam near Edendale. Hlongwa was killed as he left his Imbali home.

An ANC member of the provincial legislature, Siboniso Duma, who is a cousin of Hlongwa, said the murders were “senseless”.

A branch official who did want to be named said: “We do not know who will die next.”

He said the killings were similar to recent murders in Newcastle.

One of the disputes in the Midlands is over the nomination for a third term of an Edendale councillor, Sbono Majola. The unnamed official said Majola’s bid had not been supported by some party members in the Edendale and Georgetown voting districts. He said the members opposed to the nomination believed they had been sidelined “for far too long”.

Pietermaritzburg police spokesman Sergeant Mthokozisi Ngobese said AK47s had been used in both killings.

“The motive is unknown at this stage, but the police are investigating,” said Ngobese.

The ANC spokesman in KwaZulu-Natal, Mdumiseni Ntuli, said the motive for the killings was not known.

“There was no known tension within the branch and we were also not aware of any imminent threats to the lives of the two comrades,” he said.

Ntuli said it was “unusual” that two members from the same branch had been killed on the same day.

“For that to happen does create speculation that it is reasonable to think of them as being politically motivated killings. We can’t understand how and why it would happen in that way,” he said.

ANC leaders in the Western Cape were more categorical. Spokesman Jabu Mfusi confirmed that the rally was postponed because of infighting.