Durban - A woman who had been an ANC party agent in the elections is fighting for her life in hospital after she and two other ANC members were shot in Wembezi, Estcourt.
Masi Mbhele was walking in the area’s C section with Nombuso Mabaso and Msawenkosi Nkosi when shots were fired at them on Tuesday night.
Mabaso and Nkosi died.
Police arrested three suspects that night.
KwaZulu-Natal police spokesman Captain Thulani Zwane said the trio would appear in the Estcourt Magistrate’s Court soon. They ranged in age from 32 to 40.
Community Safety and Liaison MEC Willies Mchunu condemned the killings, saying they undermined the work that had been done in the area before the elections by the multiparty political intervention committee.
“That the suspects were apprehended just hours after the murders points to the commitment of our detectives who are always working around the clock,” he said.
The ANC in KwaZulu-Natal has urged all political parties to educate their members that political differences should not be resolved with violence.
“The incident comes on the heels of many killings that have taken place in C Section, and those arrested have links to a certain political party,” said the party’s spokesman in KZN, Senzo Mkhize.
ANC branch chairman Sibusiso Majola and an ANC ward councillor, Jimmy Lembede, have died in shootings in Wembezi in the past two years.
The suspect in these murders was jailed.
“The ANC is concerned that the recent attack happened barely two weeks after we conducted relatively peaceful election campaigns in Estcourt,” said Mkhize.
KZN Provincial Commissioner, Lieutenant-General Mmamonnye Ngobeni, warned that police would not tolerate criminality in the area.
Mchunu, who is also the deputy chairman of the ANC in the province, is to visit the families of Mabaso and Nkosi today. He is also expected to visit Mbhele in hospital.
Daily News