Police Minister, Bheki Cele, Deputy Minister, Cassel Mathale, and National Police Commissioner, General Fannie Masemola have visited the families of the three people who were killed in Mkhondo, Mpumalanga last week. Among the deceased is African National Congress (ANC) councillor, Sbonelo Ntshangase.
Ntshangase and Sizwe Mbingo and Sandile Khumalo were gunned down by unknown suspects in the Ethandukukhanya Township.
Tensions ran high between Cele and ANC members outside the home of Ntshangase. The ANC members accused both the national and provincial government of doing very little to curb political killings.
Ntshangase is the second councillor to be killed in a space of two months. Last month, another councillor Muzi Manyathi was shot and killed at a filling station in the area.
Cele admitted a lot needs to be done by the police to deal with political tensions and killings in Mkhondo.
“That understanding of tensions, the root cause is the non-arrest of the perpetrators. Some of them are really known, they have names but ours as the police is not to come and repeat the names, we need to put the face to those names. But because we have met the police management and identified gaps on those, maybe the approach we used in other areas where there are political killings like KZN is the same approach, we are going to use,” says Cele.
VIDEO: Police top brass visit families of three people killed in Mkhondo, Mpumalanga
Ntshangase’s younger sister, Lindokuhle Lukhele says their family is still shocked following the murder of her brother and the two others.
“We are very devastated as the family upon the tragedy that has happened. It is very hard to believe what has happened. We hope and believe that police will arrest soon.”
ANC Chairperson in Mpumalanga, Mandla Ndhlovu has also called on the police to intensify their investigations.
“We came here last year to bury our own comrade, the deputy chairperson, Muzi Manyathi. The assassin, according to the information we have, is known. We have engaged the Minister and he is here. There is a commitment that has been made by the minister that they will pay a special attention to the political killing here in Mkhondo,” says Ndhlovu.
Some members of the community say they are now living in fear following the recent killings.
VIDEO: Mkhondo community shocked, living in fear following killings 3 including councillor:
