It has been nine months since uMngeni Municipality’s DA councillor Nhlalayenza Ndlovu was gunned down in front of his wife and children.

AfriForum is now calling on Police Minister Senzo Mchunu to intervene and get the investigation back on track.

Ndlovu, who was uMngeni’s chief whip and PR councillor, was murdered at his home near Mpophomeni last December. He was shot more than ten times in front of his wife and children.

The DA’s independent task force roped in the private prosecution unit as its operational partner in the investigation into Ndlovu’s murder in January.

In April, the private prosecution unit, led by advocate Gerrie Nel, said it had obtained evidence that could lead to the case being solved.

Nel previously told The Witness that an induna was their main suspect in the murder.

At the time, the induna was attending a case for possession of stolen property at the Howick Magistrate’s Court after a transformer was found at his house.

The induna is currently wanted by police on other murder and attempted murder charges and is said to be on the run.

Nel said the private prosecution unit remains committed to making its knowledge available to the SAPS in order to prosecute the murderers, whose identities and motives are believed to be known.

In the letter, Nel reiterates that the unilateral decision of the SAPS not to communicate with the Ndlovu family amounts to a heinous failure in their duties and that it may even amount to an acknowledgement of their inability to respond to issues.

Nel said his unit had obtained potentially critical evidence that could lead to the case being solved in April, but Major General Dumisani Khumalo, head of Criminal Intelligence, cut off all communications with the private prosecution unit.

“The only assumption in the absence of an explanation is that Khumalo’s decision not to communicate with the Ndlovu family is actually a blatant attempt to hide rank incompetence and the inability to perform basic policing functions. Or that it is a deliberate attempt not to solve the case,” said Nel.

Nel added that Khumalo and his team’s sloppiness has impacted on the investigation and that it may possibly hinder its successful prosecution.

“Whether it is Khumalo and his ‘team’s’ dereliction of duty or whether it is simply incompetence to expect our clients to accept the investigation team’s assurances that the matter is receiving attention without any meaningful feedback or involvement is not only contemptuous, but also pays lip service to the SAPS’s commitment to being victim-focused,” said Nel.

DA KZN leader Francois Rodgers said he once raised the issue of a poor working relationship between the political task team and the investigating team to provincial police commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi

“He, however, told me that the unit falls under the national ministry and we must make a call to the national minister to allow the special task team to work with our team. If [our] private prosecution unit has suspects and SAPS political task team is not doing anything about this then there’s something sinister there. There’s no closure for the family and us until we find out who did this and why.

“It’s important that whoever did this is brought to book,” said Rodgers.

Police Ministry spokesperson Kamogelo Mogotsi said Minister Mchunu received AfriForum’s letter on Thursday.

“The minister will consider the contents thereof and respond accordingly,” said Mogotsi.