Durban - The IFP has called for authorities to step up efforts to curb the spread of deadly weapons in KwaZulu-Natal.
Blessed Gwala, the IFP’s provincial spokesperson for community safety and liaison, was speaking after a family of 10, including seven women, was shot dead in the Imbali Unit 14 area of Pietermaritzburg in the early hours of Friday.
In a separate incident on Thursday, Gwala said a man believed to be a taxi boss in the Ndwedwe area was shot and killed in the Ottawa area near Verulam, just outside Durban.
He said four other people were shot dead on Thursday in KwaMashu, north of Durban.
“It is shocking that the killing of a taxi boss in Ottawa comes just weeks after taxi associations signed a peace agreement that was facilitated by Minister of Police Bheki Cele.”
Gwala added that, during the community safety and liaison debate last week at the KZN legislature, he had raised the IFP’s serious concerns about the high rate of crime in KZN.
“I stated that, due to the high unemployment rate, the notion of paid assassins cannot be ruled out, as desperate people will resort to desperate measures to earn money to feed their families. Further, we are concerned about the mass killings that are happening in areas such as KwaMashu, uMlazi, Nkandla and Eshowe, to mention a few.”
Gwala said this issue required urgent attention from the relevant authorities.
“We need to have a clear understanding of the trend of the killings – the locations and the hot spots – and the causes. The increasing availability of weapons has helped drive rising insecurity and crime in KZN, where guns are commonly used to commit a range of crimes. The IFP believes that the police must work towards eradicating crime to ensure that the province is freed from ruthless criminals.”
He said the ongoing murders in KZN were indicative of the movement of illegal firearms into the province.
“It is the duty of the authorities to launch a thorough investigation of arms syndicates, looking at whether the guns used by criminals to kill are smuggled into the province, or whether criminals collude with gun sellers to buy illegal guns.
“The IFP further calls on the police to increase police patrols and intelligence surveillance along our porous borders, as well as in community residential areas across the province.”