DURBAN - POLICE Minister General Bheki Cele says detectives tasked with investigating political killings in KwaZulu-Natal are making good progress and have secured convictions.
Cele was briefing the media in Durban yesterday following an Inter-Ministerial Committee meeting on political killings. Concerns have been raised in recent weeks after the murders of ANC eThekwini councillor Minenhle Mkhize and Amajuba speaker Bhekumndeni Ndima. Cele said that progress was being made regarding the cases.
He said that the task team, which comprises police and the National Prosecuting Authority, had since 2018 investigated 258 dockets in which 289 arrests were made in politically related cases; this is 32 more dockets compared with the last update in June last year, with a 54% detection rate and 33% court rate and an 83% conviction rate. Most of the new cases were reported before, during and after the local government elections last year.
Cele said that the most affected political parties were the ANC, IFP and NFP.
Motives for these crimes included political conflicts with a few cases linked to taxi violence and domestic issues.
“It is important to note the significant progress made by the task team which has secured life sentences for 10 accused. Moreover, 22 accused had sentences ranging from 10 to 50 years handed down to them. Twelve accused have been convicted for no more than 10 years and the remainder are going through the court processes.”
Cele added that 116 case dockets not related to the task team’s mandate but linked to politically related cases, were being processed by the team for further investigation.
Cele said that there was significant movement in high-profile cases.
“There is significant progress on the murder cases that took place prior to the local government elections, namely, the murder of the three women at Inanda, the KwaDukuza attempted murder of the candidate councillor and the Nongoma murder of another councillor.”
Cele added: “In the 2016 local government elections, there were 29 political killings, however, in the 2021 local government elections, there were nine killings so we can’t say nothing has been done. Yes, we would love to have had zero political killings but the fact that there was a decrease shows that something is being done to address political killings.”
Asked about the use of crime intelligence for a proactive approach to the problem, KZN Premier Sihle Zikalala, who also attended the briefing, said that this was being addressed by the national government.
Daniel Silke, a political analyst, said that although Cele announced that progress has been made in investigations into political killings, each week we heard of a murder.
“The progress made by the police hasn’t been a sufficient enough deterrent to stop political killings. Intra-party disagreements, factionalism and political dissent are the reasons for political killings.”
Silke added that every politically motivated attack hurt our democracy.
“One political killing is too many. There needs to be a mechanism in place that deters criminal activity in which extreme violence is used as a form of political expression.”
KZN Violence Monitor Mary de Haas said that she was not impressed by the statistics provided.
“These cases are a drop in the ocean compared to the dozens of political killings in past few years.
“There are good detectives in this province who do better work while this team is far better resourced and achieves less.”
Some of the cases where convictions were achieved or are pending include:
Fisokuhle Nkani Ntuli was found guilty of the murder of ANC councillor Thami Nyembe. Ntuli, who was convicted of five other murders, was sentenced to life imprisonment for all the murders.
Nkosinathi Mantengu was found guilty of the murder of IFP member and taxi owner Philangenkosi Nkundlane. He was sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment.
Five accused, charged with the murder of ANC ward councillor, Musawenkosi “Qashana” Mchunu, will return to the Pietermaritzburg Regional court this week.
THE MERCURY