ANC in KZN concerned about killing of members

The African National Congress (ANC) in KwaZulu-Natal has registered its concern about what seems to be the resurgence of the killing of party members in the province. At least eight members have been murdered in the past month.

They include eThekwini Metro Police Officer, Lindokuhle Madonsela,  a former Youth League Branch Chairperson, who was gunned down together with a colleague in Mpumalanga township on Tuesday.

The ANC is concerned that the recent murders of its members in different parts of the province might be a new wave of political killings.

Over the years, the province has been marred by killings which were believed to be intra-party related, especially in the run up to municipal elections.

Two weeks ago, an ANC Councilor in Mtubatuba on the North Coast died in a hail of bullets. On the same day, a former ANC Youth League Branch Secretary also from Mpumalanga Township, Thamsanqa Gcabashe, was shot dead near his home.

These killings are a cause of concern for the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal.

“We are obviously very concerned about the recent incidents where some of our comrades were assassinated. It seemed to be acts which were carried out by people who are highly determined to ensure that they succeed in the execution of our comrades. What makes it a very challenging situation is that, unlike in the past, the ANC at the moment is at its own best in terms of stability. It is very difficult when there is stability and we are not yet in the local government elections,” says party’s Provincial Secretary Mdumiseni Ntuli.

The ANC in the province has called for the resuscitation of the police task team investigating political killings in the province. The task team was established in 2018.

Ntuli says while there were breakthroughs in some of the cases, a lot of cases are still unsolved.

“The work of the task team on killings established by the President, I think the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic has somehow deflected the attention of the state on some of the key and urgent tasks that were being pursued. I do believe that with these resurfacing incidents, we will have to send a message to the President that, that task team must be resuscitated. Generally, we have not been satisfied that it has not been able to match the pace of killings.”

The ANC says they hope the police will soon make arrests in connection with all the recent killings.

The Hawks in KwaZulu-Natal is investigating the killing of Lindokuhle Madonsela and his colleague: