KZN political killings: Parliament appeals for multifaceted approach

Parliament’s Select Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs condemned the recent killings of councillors in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN).

The committee appealed for a multifaceted approach to stop political killings in the province.

KZN political killings

This follows the murders of Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) councillor Reginald Ndima, 58, and ANC eThekwini councillor, Minenhle Mkhize, 40.

Ndima, the speaker of the Amajuba District Municipality, was shot and killed after he was ambushed by unknown gunmen at the gate of his Newcastle home on Saturday.

Mkhize was gunned down last month in a hail of bullets, also by unknown gunmen, outside his home in Cliffdale, near Hillcrest.

No arrests have been made in connection with the murders.

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Multifaceted approach

The chairperson of parliament’s oversight committee on local government, China Dodovu, said the political killings in KZN had long reached “crisis proportions” and required a multifaceted approach to be stopped.

“The continued killing of councillors – with the recent murder of councillor Minenhle Mkhize and councillor Reginald Ndima – is unacceptable.

“Furthermore, the inability of the law enforcement agencies to prosecute the perpetrators and masterminds behind the murders encourages them to continue to commit these heinous acts,” Dodovu said in a statement.

Dodovu said the effective investigation and eventual prosecution of perpetrators and instigators were the first steps in the fight against the killings and for this to happen, the South African Police Service (Saps) should strengthen its intelligence-gathering apparatus in order to detect the planned killings before they happen.

Exposing corruption

He said the Moerane Commission, which was established in 2016 to investigate political killings in KZN, heard evidence that some of the murders were related to corruption in the local government sector.

Dodovu said the fight against corruption should also be strengthened and heightened to end political killings in the province.

“The society should invest its energies in exposing corruption to ensure that corrupt elements who have the temerity to kill in the sector are removed.

“There is also a need for effective political education to end the deepening culture of intolerance, violence and killings in KwaZulu-Natal. This worrying culture of violence requires continuous and concerted effort to end it. It is unacceptable that people are killed with such impunity,” Dodovu said.

Compiled by Thapelo Lekabe

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