Killings ‘not political’ – Ace
The KZN killing fields are ‘just killings’, ANC secretary-general Magashule claims – but an expert says it is entrenched in the culture of ANC and IFP members.
Magashule says the situation will not affect the provincial conference taking place this weekend.
ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule has claimed the killings of numerous councillors and other political office bearers in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) were not politically motivated.
Speaking at an ANC national executive committee (NEC) briefing at Luthuli House yesterday, he said the killings would not affect the KZN provincial conference, set to take place this weekend.
“We will be spreading ANC NEC members across branches in KZN. The provincial conference will continue. Killings are killings. It is a criminal thing, not political. There is this pattern of targeting people. We will be able to crack these killings,” he said.
The NEC briefing was called to address a number of issues. In particular, Magashule was expected to name Supra Mahumapelo’s successor as North West premier, but failed to deliver on this.
Later in the briefing Magashule also said in the next few months, the ANC would start rolling out a programme of action for land expropriation without compensation. Members of the ANC’s top five have been vague about what was decided at a recent land summit in Boksburg.
What was set to be an underwhelming briefing got interesting when journalists asked questions at the end and Magashule was confronted about the spate of alleged political killings.
His denial of the political motives behind these killings comes after President Cyril Ramaphosa mentioned them while addressing the 20th annual African Renaissance Festival at the Convention Centre in Durban last week.
Ramaphosa used part of his address to consider what Nelson Mandela would have made of the killings.
“He would have spoken vocally and loudly and said some of the expressions of disagreements that manifest themselves in the killing of people you disagree with must come to an end.”
The latest in what are widely believed to be a series of political killings took place over the past weekend. An ANC member was shot in his home in the Harry Gwala region of KZN, while in Mpumalanga’s Gert Sibande region, a member of the Umkhonto we Sizwe military veterans association was shot at an ANC Youth League conference. A National Freedom Party chairperson was also attacked while driving his vehicle in the Natal Midlands. All three were killed. In a recent interview on Talk Radio 702, Mary de Haas of the Independent Research and Violence Monitor voiced her concerns, not only about the growing number of political killings in KZN, but on the fact that the perpetrators are hardly ever prosecuted.
In February, the provincial electoral commission officer Mawethu Mosery said in a statement that KZN has the highest number of by-elections in the country as a direct result of these killings.
Curbing the rise of this epidemic will require decisive action from the ANC. A good start would be the ANC secretary general acknowledging the political motives behind these killings rather than claiming that “it is not political”. –
He would have spoken vocally and loudly and said some of the expressions of disagreements that manifest themselves in the killing of people you disagree with must come to an end.
President Cyril Ramaphosa On what Nelson Mandela would say about the killings