Durban - Some residents at the KwaMashu hostel are living in fear after the killing of four men, all members of the ANC, on Friday night at the hostel.
Murders at the hostel have become commonplace in recent months, fuelling fears that politics-related violence may be making a comeback.
On Friday night, at about 8.30, gunmen killed friends Lucky Sibiya, Sipho Mhlongo, Sizwe Mbatha and Sibongiseni Biyela.
They were talking in Mbatha’s room when the killers stormed in and shot and killed them instantly.
Residents interviewed next to the blood-stained room and outside, were worried that the men may have been killed as part of the on-off turf battles between the ANC and the IFP at the hostel.
At the beginning of September another resident, Sabelo Hadebe also died in a hail of bullets, not long after he had defected from the IFP to the ANC.
“We are being killed because we are in the ANC, and we are also not armed and revenging our fallen,” said an elderly woman who did not want her name published.
“What is happening to us is sad, and shows that the police at Ntuzuma and KwaMashu are not taking care of us. If the government is serious, they must send us police that are not from the township. We have lost faith in the local police.”
The concern that the men may have been killed for their political affiliations was also raised by one of the police investigators who arrived at the scene yesterday morning.
“The KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Commissioner Lieutenant General Mmamonnye Ngobeni was deeply concerned about the brutal killing of four innocent people at the hostel,” said police spokesman Major Thulani Zwane.
ANC provincial secretary Sihle Zikalala expressed condolences to the dead men’s families and condemned the murders. “We must let the law take its course, and not point fingers at anyone, lest we unduly jeopardise investigations.”
Zikalala said it was “disturbing that 20 years after democracy, political intolerance seemed to be flaring up again at KwaMashu hostel
“.
He said he hoped the police would work around the clock to apprehend the killers.
IFP provincial spokesman Mdu Nkosi also condemned the killings and conveyed his condolences to the families and friends of the deceased. “We are saddened and hope the police do their job and bring the criminals to book. It’s unwise to accuse political parties prematurely as the real criminals may get off in the process.”
Ngobeni condemned the killings, and said a task team consisting of the Hawks, crime intelligence and detectives was established to identify and arrest those involved.
The SAPS would not be drawn into the possible motive for the murders.
Yesterday a semblance of peace was prevalent at the hostel.
Men and women sat on the gravel and unevenly grassed yard. They were talking among themselves, too shocked and frightened to say too much to strangers lest they fall victim to the senseless murders when night comes.
With a monthly rental not exceeding R40, for many rural migrants the hostel is a reluctant yet affordable home in the city. It has become so dangerous that the Shembe church sticker on one of the windows, in Zulu, urges God to save them from visible and invisible enemies: Izitha engizaziyo nengingazazi, ngizinikela kuwe nkosi.
- Sunday Tribune