Durban - Mthinteni Mhlongo – Glebelands Hostel victim number 54 – was shot dead within a few metres of the taxi that had brought him home from the funeral of his colleague killed at the hostel days earlier.
He had been in one of five packed minibuses returning from the funeral in eMkhomazi on Saturday.
The hostel dwellers had been escorted by police to the funeral of Frank Khuzwayo who was gunned down last Saturday and died in hospital. Men draped in the colours of uMkhonto weSizwe carried his coffin.
“Frank had given his life to the struggle. He too had worn the uniform with pride. He remained a poor man to the day he died because he had sacrificed personal gain for the party – his party – the ANC,” community activist Vanessa Burger said.
Touched by the death of Khuzwayo – who had been vocal against the political intolerance at the hostel, Mhlongo spoke out against the ANC at the funeral.
“One of the men who spoke most eloquently about the current political rot that is killing our comrades, was Mthinteni Mhlongo, himself an MK vet and Glebelands resident. He told it straight at the funeral: ‘The ANC killed Frank, our sin is the truth’,” Burger said.
Mhlongo was shot minutes after alighting from a minibus taxi outside Block K at the hostel, allegedly by a hired gunman.
Opposition political parties are now begging the ANC to intervene hastily at the hostel after Community Safety MEC Willies Mchunu reportedly said on Ukhozi FM on Friday that the fighting was due to internal ANC tensions.
Burger and DA KZN leader, Zwakele Mncwango, claim they heard Mchunu say publicly that “the people must now solve their own problems as he could do no more”.
Mchunu was interviewed on radio hours after the death of Bongani Mthembu, another leader at Glebelands, who was gunned down at the hostel on Thursday.
This morning, Mchunu’s spokesman, Sipho Khumalo, denied he made the comment and said the MEC, along with others in local government, was involved in trying to bring an end to the violence.
“But there has to be a willingness to come together on the part of the warring factions,” he said.
There was only so much law enforcement officials could do, he said.
Police spokesman, Brigadier Jay Naicker, said Mhlongo, 41, died after sustaining two bullet wounds at about 6pm on Saturday.
Mncwango, who had previously called for a commission of inquiry into why people were being killed at the hostel, said it was no longer necessary because the ANC was aware of the cause of the unrest.
“The ANC must take serious responsibility,” he said. “The problem at Glebelands is a problem of the ANC, only they can solve the problem with the solutions because they are aware of the infighting. Why don’t they sit down with their members at branch level?” he said.
“We have heard different reasons for the unrest – from tribalism, to selling beds – but now they say there is no need to bring the soldiers in because the problem is within the ANC itself,” Mncwango said.
IFP chairman, Blessed Gwala, said the government was “sitting” on the problem and called for a multi-party solution.
“The issue of the violence is not an ANC issue alone, it involves everyone; but the ANC is dealing with it alone, excluding other political formations. The question is why? It is because they know they will be exposed,” he said.
ANC provincial secretary, Super Zuma, said the party was gathering reports about the instability from its former provincial executive committee.
“We are calling for calm and for members not to hit back because we are a party of peace and the people. We want to be given an opportunity to look into this, it is one of the priorities on the agenda for the PEC to deal with,” he said.
Daily News
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