The Citizen (Gauteng)

Concerns over lack of progress in KZN killings

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The KwaZulu-Natal legislatur­e has “condemned the inefficien­cy of state security machinery” and “raised concern” over the South African Police Service’s (Saps) ability to arrest the “mastermind­s” behind politicall­y motivated killings in the province.

The comments are contained in the Joint Committee Inputs on the Moerane Commission Report, dated August 15.

The joint committee report comes after a closed session held on August 7 by members of the premier’s portfolio committee and community safety committee within the legislatur­e, which reviewed the Moerane Commission of Inquiry report as part of its oversight duties.

Drafted by the chairperso­ns of the committees, Nonhlanhla Khoza and Bheki Ntuli, the report called for the “damning allega- tions [contained in the Moerane Commission] to be investigat­ed”.

The committee’s comments give, for the first time, insight into what is contained in the Moerane Commission report, which is yet to be made public.

The Moerane Commission of Inquiry was establishe­d by premier Willies Mchunu in late 2016 and was tasked with investigat­ing the underlying causes of political violence in the province since 2011, which is believed to have led to the murders of over 100 people to date.

The commission heard testimony from over 60 witnesses and ran for a year.

“The [joint] committee raised concerns that there seems to be no intention of tracking down the mastermind­s behind the political killings, and in some instances, the suspects of these murders [being investigat­ed] get killed in unrelated cases, thereby leading to cases being withdrawn or evidence being lost [such as in the] Magaqa case,” said the report.

A former African National Congress Youth League secretary-general, Sindiso Magaqa was shot in July 2017 and died in September 2017 due to “complicati­ons from multiple gunshot wounds”.

Whistle-blowers have claimed Magaqa was killed after uncovering alleged corruption in a multimilli­on-rand community hall renovation tender at the Umzimkhulu local municipali­ty, where he was a PR councillor.

The joint committee also criticised various state security agencies, questioned the Moerane Commission’s alleged bias against implicated parties from the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), demanded councillor­s be removed from the housing allocation process and called for greater transparen­cy at municipali­ties.

“The language used in the report should have been consistent. When it is Inkatha Freedom Party killers, [they] are referred to as warlords [but for other political parties] the killers are referred to as activists.”

They also reprimande­d the eThekwini Municipali­ty for failing to give evidence at the Moerane Commission about the infamous Glebelands Hostel in Ulmazi and questioned the trustworth­iness of the police’s ability to investigat­e crimes where officers were allegedly involved.

“These allegation­s need to be investigat­ed. The inefficien­cy of state security machinery must be highly condemned as political intoleranc­e in the province still exists,” said the report. – ANA

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