Durban - The National Freedom Party on Tuesday said that it had learnt with shock of the devastating news of the killing of their councillor candidate in Nongoma.
In a short statement, NFP secretary-general Canaan Mdletshe said that the NFP’s ward 17 candidate in Nongoma, Dumisani Qwabe, was found in the early hours of Tuesday morning in his car, which had been set alight.
Mdletshe said that according to law enforcement officials, the car had bullet holes and bloodstains, which indicates that Qwabe might have been shot before being put in the car, which was then set alight.
"It's a worrisome situation as this happens just five days before the elections. As the organisation, we had previously called for the deployment of soldiers and that SAPS intelligence is intensified in some parts of KZN known to be hotspots, and we reiterate that call once more.
"As things stand, our candidates in Nongoma are in fear. They are scared to continue with campaigns, and this does not augur well for democracy in general,” Mdletshe said.
Qwabe’s death is one of many politically-related deaths that have engulfed KwaZulu-Natal in recent weeks, with the 1 November local government elections fast approaching and battle for councillor positions intensifying in municipalities across the province and the country.
During a visit to KwaZulu-Natal last week, Police Minister Bheki Cele said that the police were actively probing six politically motivated killings in the province.
Cele was in the province following the murder of EFF ward councillor candidate Thulani Shangase at the hands of unknown assailants on the afternoon of Sunday, 17 October.
The latest spate of killings has seen fears grow that the violence could lead to yet another bloody spate of politically-motivated killings in the province as the elections draw closer.
Cele said that the cases included the three women who were shot dead in a drive-by shooting by an armed gang in Inanda, north of Durban, when they were attending an ANC meeting in the area and that of Siyabonga Mkhize, an ANC councillor candidate for ward 101 in eThekwini, who was shot dead while on the campaign trail in Cato Crest.
Political Bureau