By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The South African Local Government Association in KwaZulu-Natal says it’s concerned about the increase in political killings ahead of the national and provincial elections.
Speaking in a media briefing, KZN Salga chairperson Thami Ntuli said the sudden surge in political killings was “worrying”.
In the latest incident, councillor Ndukwenhle Duma was shot and killed in Mtubatuba, north of KZN.
During the attack, two school children were killed, while three others were injured.
Ntuli said there needs to be an action plan from the government to curb political killings in the province.
“What is increasing our worry as Salga in KwaZulu-Natal is the heavily contested political reign in the province [which] has a history of black-on-black violence,” he told reporters.
Ntuli said utterances made by politicians as they campaign for the 2024 national and provincial elections were adding fuel to fire.
“What is also not helping is some of our political leaders who are using inflammatory language during their campaign instead of sticking to political diplomacy while wooing voters, thus, the incidents of the past few weeks are worrying and something should be done by the police and those in power to arrest this situation.”
“If we fail to act now, we will become like countries like Colombia where politicians are killed everyday, He said.”
He also said the fact that no one has been arrested for any of the four killings that happened in parts of KZN last month raised concerns about the effectiveness of the police.
Ntuli called for the establishment of specialised courts in order to speedily deal with cases of political killings.
Government and political parties have been urged to fully implement the recommendations of the Moerane Commission of Enquiry which probed the political killings.
The commission recommended amongst other things, that political parties embark on political education.
The Minister of Police, Bheki Cele recently identified Zululand and eThekwini as the epicentre of the scourge in the province.
Cele also said it appears to them that political killings became more prevalent after the 2021 local government elections, where several municipalities were hung, thus requiring parties to negotiate coalitions.