Durban — KwaZulu-Natal Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube and Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC Bongi Sithole-Moloi should urgently hold a meeting of all political party leaders in the province regarding a resurgence ofg politically-motivated killings in the province.
Francois Rodgers. the leader of the Democratic Alliance in the KZN legislature, made the call in the wake of the murder of IFP councillor in Mtubatuba, Innocent Mkhwanazi, and ACDP councillor in uMhlathuze, John Myaka.
“The growing climate of violence in KZN is a threat to our democracy, yet the province’s ANC-run government has not taken firm action,” Rodgers said.
“Earlier this year, the DA engaged directly with the Premier, calling on her to engage with all political party leaders. Her response was flippant in the extreme – that she did not have time to sit around a table and drink water.
“This lack of interest is confirmed by the fact that the Moerane Commission report – with its recommendations on preventing such killings – is gathering dust in her Office.”
Rodgers said that the Commission laid much of the blame at the door of political parties, with many of its recommendations also geared towards them. Yet, to date, there was little attempt by some stakeholders to acknowledge or implement these proposals.
“Of extreme concern is that attacks and killings of councillors appear to be more prevalent in municipalities with hung councils or those with unstable coalitions. This raises serious questions around whether there are sinister forces at play,” Rodgers said.
“It is now critical that MEC Bongiwe Sithole-Moloi revise her department’s approach to these municipalities. This must include putting a stop to party-political games and working with councils and political parties to bring about stability.”
Rodgers added that the province had a long, sad record of political violence - partly because of apartheid but also due to a history of violence and intolerance, particularly between the ANC and IFP.
He said while massive strides had been made since 1994, the scourge had raised its ugly head in the past few years.
“For democracy to survive, next year’s elections must be free and fair, with elected office bearers able to perform their duties without intimidation,” Rodgers said.
He said that the DA expected the Premier to take immediate action in implementing the Moerane Commission’s recommendations and for her Cogta MEC to outline steps to be taken by her department within KZN’s conflict-ridden municipalities.
Earlier this year IOL reported on an April 2023 report of the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime (GI-TOC) compiled by Rumbi Matamba, an analyst at the GI-TOC, working as part of the Observatory of Illicit Economies in East and Southern Africa.
It said politically-motivated hits went up from 24 in 2020 to 30 cases in 2021 and 40 in 2022, the second-highest number of incidents ever recorded in the database – the highest being in 2019, with 42 cases.
Of all the provinces, KZN had the highest number of recorded cases for 2022 with 21 killings, which was more than half the country’s total number.
“Politically-motivated killings have – over the period covered by the database – been heavily concentrated in the province, and it is notorious for supplying hitmen to various other provinces and sometimes other countries.
“Violence, including assassinations, is more prevalent in specific parts of the province, such as the KZN Midlands and the eThekwini metro.
“In the case of the latter, no political party has commanded an outright majority in the municipality since the 2021 local government elections.
“Violence is sometimes a function of decision-making in the council hanging in the balance between the various ideologically opposed political parties elected to the council,” the report said.
In 2021, a report, titled Murder By Contract: Targeted killings in eastern and southern Africa, authored by Kim Thomas, an analyst at the GI-TOC, revealed that between 2015 and 2020, political assassinations were concentrated in KZN.
“Data from 2016 and 2019 show two localised peaks during this study period. Both years were election years: 2016 saw municipal elections in August and national elections were held in 2019.
“In 2020, a contextually drastic decrease in political hits was noticed in KZN. This was likely due, in part, to the national Covid-19 lockdown, which meant that political branch meetings and conferences, which are frequently accompanied by violence, did not take place as usual.
“The decline in political hits in KZN is likely a temporary pause in violence rather than the start of a long-term declining trend,” read the report.
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