JOHANNESBURG - There is an organised campaign by some politicians in the governing ANC to permanently silence those condemning and investigating corruption in Limpopo, the South African Congress of Trade Unions (Cosatu) said on Friday.
The Limpopo branch of the labour federation condemned the killing of two more ANC politicians in Mokopane on Tuesday.
Valtyn Kekana, 54 and Ralph Kanyane, 32, a sub-region secretary for the party, were assassinated while sitting in a vehicle. Kekana was the chairperson of the municipal public accounts committee (MPAC) in the local Mogalakwena municipality.
"The federation strongly condemn this act of barbarism by political cowards who lose boardroom discourse and resort to hiring of assassins," said provincial secretary Gerald Twala.
"This is a third killing with the same political modus operandi in the province. As we said previously, our suspicion is that there is a well-organised and funded campaign by political hyenas within the ANC who are hell-bent on silencing any voice speaking against corruption and looting in our province. These political hyenas think that they can strike fear into the motived forces of our national democratic revolution by hiring assassins to silence whistle blowers within our movement and society."
According to police spokesman Brigadier Motlafela Mojapelo, a gunman approached the vehicle the two men were in and started firing shots at them at point blank and then fled on foot. Both ANC leaders died on the scene.
Twala said Cosatu was planning to convene anti-corruption imbizos next month in the Mogalakwena area and at councils implicated in the VBS Bank looting scandal.
"This is in order to mobilise our alliance and communities to fight and root out corrupt elements within our movement and the state. In the same breath, the federation is calling for national intervention by the minister of police and the president of the republic to stop political assassinations and effect arrests in the province."