Durban - THE Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) in the ILembe District has condemned “what appears to be a pattern of councillors being killed” as the municipal by-elections season gets under-way this weekend.
This was after one of its PR Councillors was shot dead last Friday as he was about to enter the Spar supermarket in Mandeni.
Sbani Robert Mdletshe was first elected in 2016, and will be buried on Sunday at his home.
IFP Ilembe District Secretary Makhosonke Ntuli said the community was in a state of shock and fear after the “sudden and brutal passing of one of the community’s most prominent leaders”.
“The party has lost a servant leader who was fully committed and always had the best interests of the community at heart. We wish to further condemn this horrific act and note that there appears to be a pattern of councillors being killed as we approach the election season. The law needs to take its course in finding the perpetrator but we also caution the community not to take the law into their own hands,“ said Ntuli.
Meanwhile, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) announced on Tuesday that preparations for this year’s local government elections (LGEs) were under way as the new Political Funding Act comes into effect.
The new Act stipulates that all political parties must disclose any donations received, and for now, they will be required to disclose their donations over R100 000 and keep record of any donations below R100 000.
The IEC will also for the first time be using a New Voter Management Device: “a new generation technology will allow for enhanced election logistics management, voter registration and monitoring of voter participation in real time,” said IEC Operations Manager in KZN, Ntombifuthi Masinga.
Masinga said the IEC was in the process of procuring the device and was a key innovation from the electoral body as a result of the challenges and lessons learnt from the pandemic to go paperless.
“We will ensure that we pilot the device sufficiently before the elections but we will have a back-up plan of course. We expect the first batch of the devices to arrive in May,” said Masinga.
While we await confirmation of the date from the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma later in the year, the IEC said the earliest possible date to hold the local government elections is August 4 and the latest possible date is October 27.
Voter registration for the by-elections in eThekwini, KwaDukuza, Maphumulo, uBuhlebezwe and uMzimkhulu municipalities are scheduled for this weekend (March 13 to March 14) with the by-elections scheduled to take place on April 21.
The IEC said only one registration weekend was planned.
Daily News