Voice note triggers calls for increased security for KZN councillors

As tensions rise amid intensifying power struggles between political parties in KZN’s hung municipalities, the NFP on Sunday called on police to beef up security around its councillors in the Nongoma municipality. This after statistics show that 17 councillors have been assassinated in the province in the past 10 months.

The NFP, which, through a coalition with the ANC and EFF, recently ousted IFP office-bearers at the council, says it is concerned about the safety of its councillors.

“The NFP councillors in general are under siege in KZN, and this has to be stopped at all costs,” says NFP secretary-general Canaan Mdletshe.

The latest statistics released by the provincial SA Local Government Association (Salga) show that 17 KZN councillors have been assassinated in the province since September 2022.

Last month, ACDP uMhlathuze Municipality councillor John Myaba and IFP Mtubatuba Municipality councillor Innocent Mkhwanazi were killed less than six days apart.

Fears by the NFP leadership that the party’s Nongoma Municipality councillors could be the next targets were raised amid the circulation of a voice note threatening violence in the municipality should ousted IFP mayor Albert Mncwango not be reinstated.

Mncwango was replaced by NFP councillor Mshangane Ndabandaba, who was instated a week ago.

Mdletshe says the NFP views the voice note – which calls on men in Nongoma to ‘stand up and fight for what’s rightfully theirs’ – in a very serious light.

“We call for our councillors to be protected. They must be supplied with protection of high quality. Nongoma is not a special area where hooligans masquerading as leaders are not dealt with. We cannot have a situation where hooligans are allowed to threaten the lives of councillors and nothing is done about it.

“Municipalities cannot be a place where decisions to eliminate individuals and councillors are [allowed to be] taken. It’s something that the government should take seriously and [they must] do everything possible to eliminate hitmen in municipalities or local governments,” he said.

IFP national spokesperson Mkhuleko Hlengwa distanced the party from the ‘faceless’ voice note.

“How can the NFP assume the voice note was created by the IFP when they don’t even know the identity of the person who made the voice note?”

“The IFP is not even aware of the voice note. If the NFP has any information about it, they should just go to the nearest police station instead of running a media campaign. It could as well be that the voice note in question was created by the NFP.”

The tense situation at the Nongoma Municipality is being compounded by the fact that, despite the NFP leadership having entered a coalition with the ANC, some NFP councillors in Nongoma are adamant that they will back the IFP.

While political parties across the country have sacked their councillors who defy them on matters relating to coalitions, the NFP is currently unable to remove any of its defiant councillors.

This is after the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) found that the party has parallel leadership structures, making it difficult for the electoral body to determine whether an instruction for the removal of an NFP councillor emanated from a legitimate party leadership structure.

Mdletshe, who says disputes that resulted in some NFP councillors in Nongoma resolving to ‘operate outside the NFP/ANC/ EFF agreement’ has been resolved, maintains that problems that led to the IEC not recognising the party’s leadership are also being attended to.

“Since the IEC made that decision, the NFP has been working hard to resolve its internal issues. As things stand, I can assure you that the problem will be sorted before the end of the month. After that, we will have an NFP that speaks with one voice,” he says.