The appointment of the Moerane Commission, which presented some ‘inconsistencies’ in its findings, enabled the KZN government to be seen to be doing something about political killings.

This is the view of the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) when broached for comment on political murders and attempted murders.

SS researcher and consultant David Bruce was asked by Weekend Witness to comment on recent attempts to allegedly kill IFP councillor Thinasonke Ntombela.

Last month, Ntombela was shot below the nose and the bullet lodged in his jawbone. His companion was shot in the face and arm but they both survived the assassination attempt.

Weeks afterwards a gunman walked into the office building of the IFP and pointed a gun at Ntombela’s secretary. He abandoned his actions when a car drove into the premises.

Bruce said: “There are some inconsistencies in the Moerane Commission findings.

“For instance some of the recommendations are based on the idea that the key problem is one of political intolerance. This was relevant in the 1990s when violence in the province was partly linked to ideological differences between political groups. But, as the commission acknowledges, the key factor underpinning political killings is that political positions bolster financial and social status.”

He said political positions were seen as a vehicle for advancing specific patronage networks and killings are targeted at people who are seen to threaten, or do not agree to advancing these networks.

He said there was a need for a peace process led by religious organisations or other civil society groups that is focused on the ‘toxic’ political culture and the overall culture of violence in the province.

Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime

Rumbi Matamba, an analyst at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime (GI-TOC), believes that the commission’s recommendations have not been implemented since its report was published in 2018.

“While the task force has investigated numerous killings, court processes are extremely slow and very few convictions have been secured to date. The trends explored in this report illustrate the urgent need to collect reliable, granular data on targeted killings, and the need to act proactively to intercept assassination plots, and to investigate and prosecute assassination cases with greater urgency.”

Matamba said political killings nationally have increased from 24 in 2020 to 40 in 2022. She said KZN accounted for 21 of the 40 assassinations in SA in 2022.

National police ministry spokesperson Lirandzu Themba said since 2018, the inter-ministerial committee task team on political killings set up by the presidency has investigated 226 dockets, in which 251 arrests have been made in politically-related cases. She said 46 accused have been found guilty, of who 30 were convicted for murder.

“These would be the latest stats, updated after the IMC meeting which is yet to be determined,” said Temba.