BANG, BANG Targeted killings on the rise
A 2018 report found that KZN was by far the country s assassination capital
There is no way of telling to what extent former Eastern Cape social development boss Stanley Khanyile knew his life would end in a targeted killing, but he would have sensed there was a some possibility.
In the days after his slaying in a parking lot in Alberton, east of Johannesburg, on Saturday last week, it emerged that Khanyile, at the time of his death the Sedibeng municipal manager, had been threatened and chased to his car by a group of businessmen three weeks before.
According to Sedibeng mayor Busi Modisakeng, more than 10 businessmen stormed his offices demanding information about the municipality ’ s budget and upcoming tenders.
Khanyile was also out on R50,000 bail relating to his involvement in a fraud and corruption case stemming from his time in the Eastern Cape social development department.
The ANC in the province did not rule out the possibility of a hit arising from this matter.
Meanwhile, Mhlontlo municipal official Zwelilungile Siqhola, accused of wanting to hire a hit man to kill municipal boss Thando Mase, continued his bail application in the Mthatha magistrate’s court this week.
Siqhola, 41, a technician in the municipality, was arrested in a dramatic police sting operation in September. He is facing charges of conspiracy to commit murder.
Targeted killings, or at least allegations thereof, have escalated sharply in the past decade, and while the Eastern Cape may not yet be anywhere close to KwaZulu-Natal in terms of prevalence of assassinations, there are danger signs aplenty.
In the coming months, the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime will release its latest report on SA’s targeted killings trends, but its 2018 report, The Rule of The Gun: Hits and Assassinations in South Africa , produced in collaboration with the University of Cape Town, suggests the findings will give considerable cause for concern.
In light of recent developments, the Daily Dispatch this week revisited this document, which covered the period 2000 to 2017.
Targeted killings are divided into four categories, namely personal, taxi, political and organised crime.
KwaZulu-Natal was by far the country’s assassination capital, with 40% of all targeted killings occurring in that province.
It was followed by Gauteng (24%) and the Western Cape (14%).
The Eastern Cape, however, was ranked fourth, with 12% of the overall share.
What is interesting is that unlike the other provinces, personal incidents were found to be a more consistent contributor to the overall trend than politically related cases.
The most known example was the murder of Port Elizabeth teacher Jayde Panayiotou, whose husband, Christopher Panayiotou, hired hit men to kill her.
By no means is it the only one, though. In August, the Bhisho high court sentenced Nomqondiso Tembu, 53, to life imprisonment for the murder of her husband, Vusumzi, on Valentine’s Day 2017.
Cape Town taxi driver Simphiwe Willi, 46, who was paid R120,000 to kill Vusumzi, will also spend the rest of his life in jail.
Disturbingly, the global initiative report showed that from the end of 2015 to the end of 2017, political incidents roughly quadrupled their contribution to the overall trend. Taxi incidents also increased. Several of the incidents that stand out from this period include:
ANC representative Zolile Malangeni and his wife, Ntombovuyu, were killed at their Tsolo home in August 2016;
Taxi driver Penny Gcilitshana, 38, and her boss Mxolisi Sontsantsha, 61, were gunned down near the East London CBD in November 2017;
An attempt was made on the life of ANC OR Tambo regional chair Xolile Nkompela outside Tsolo on December 17, 2015. His bodyguard, Zukile Nyontso, was killed.
In July 2016, Nelson Mandela Bay ward councillor candidate Nceba Dywili was killed by two unknown in Zwide;
Well-known Mdantsane taxi boss Xolani Michael Maphuma was slain at Mdantsane Highway Taxi City in March 2016.
The upcoming global initiative report is highly anticipated, because targeted killings across all four categories seem to be escalating.
While not altogether new, hits on police officers, especially those in prominent positions, no longer hold any fear for those who want them removed.
The killing of topWestern Cape police officer Lieutenant-Colonel Charl Kinnear only weeks after another officer, Sergeant Thabile Mapoma, was gunned down in the driveway of his Khayelitsha home proves that a badge is no longer a deterrent, especially if its holder risks all to bring perpetrators to book.
Eastern Cape police are similarly under threat.
In August, KwaBhaca police officer Sergeant Nozibele Faye was shot and killed by two unknown men, also in the driveway of her home.
Police are on the front lines of the justice system, but the 2018 global initiative report also warns of the threat to judges, magistrates, attorneys and advocates.
“The impact of contract killings targeting those in the South African criminal-justice sphere is not limited to the victims or the cases they are or were connected to.
“Their effect is felt much more deeply, as these hits are representative of the broader issue of intimidation in the justice system,” the researchers said.
“The fact these hits occur, and the fact that others in the criminal justice system are aware of them, creates a pervasive environment of fear.
“The message that this category of contract killings communicates is that there is a very real possibility that the same violence may well be applied to someone else in the system.
This constant threat of violence is tantamount to the capturing of the justice system by criminal forces.”