Staff Reporter.
A National Freedom Party (NFP) councillor candidate Dumisani Qwabe was gunned down on Tuesday morning in Nongoma, KZN.
NFP’s secretary-general Canaan Mdletshe said that Qwabe was the party’s Ward 17 candidate in Nongoma.
He said Qwabe was found in the early hours of Tuesday morning in his car, which was burning.
He said according to law enforcement officials, the car had bullet holes and blood stains. It was suspected that he might have been shot before being put in car which was then set alight.
“It’s a worrisome situation as this happens just five days before the elections.
“We had previously called for the deployment of soldiers and that SAPS intelligence is intensified in some parts of KZN known to be hotspots and we reiterate that call once more.
“As things stand, our candidates in Nongoma are in fear. They are scared to continue with campaigns, “said Mdletshe.
Qwabe’s death is one of many politically-related deaths that have engulfed KwaZulu-Natal in recent weeks, with the 1 November local government elections fast approaching and battle for councillor positions intensifying in municipalities across the province and the country.
During a visit to KwaZulu-Natal last week, Police Minister Bheki Cele said that the police were actively probing six politically motivated killings in the province.
Cele was in the province following the murder of EFF ward councillor candidate Thulani Shangase at the hands of unknown assailants on the afternoon of Sunday, 17 October.