Cyril takes action on political killings in KwaZulu-Natal

ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa convened an urgent meeting with regional leaders in Durban yesterday to address the spate of killings of party members as well as elective conference issues.

Ramaphosa‚ accompanied by national executive members Jessie Duarte and Gwede Mantashe‚ had earlier visited the Pietermaritzburg home of slain ANC councillor Musawenkosi Mqatha Mchunu.

He was killed by unknown assailants on Friday night‚ a day after he called for the elective conference in the Moses Mabhida region to be postponed.

Mchunu’s death comes days after ANC activist Sifiso Cele was murdered on the South Coast in front of his family.

Addressing a media contingent at a Durban hotel last night, NEC member and manager in the office of the ANC president‚ Zizi Kodwa‚ said the killings appeared to be an orchestrated elimination of ANC leaders.

“It’s of serious concern. They appear orchestrated to destabilise the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal.”

He said the governing party had convened the urgent meeting to find a solution to issues that posed a threat to the unity of the ANC.

Despite the murders‚ Kodwa said regions due for elective conferences were ready to go ahead.

“It’s too early to speculate whether the killings are linked to the conferences.

“The president is concerned. We can’t allow KwaZulu-Natal to go back to what we have seen in the 1980s killing fields.”

Greater KwaDukuza was the first region to hold its elective conference last weekend since Ramaphosa was elected ANC president at Nasrec.

The province has been beset by infighting between pro-Ramaphosa supporters and those who support former president Jacob Zuma.