The Mayor of the ANC-led eThekwini Municipality Mxolisi Kaunda has applauded the police for presenting a watertight case in the Durban High Court that led to the life sentence handed to Mxolisi Gcabashe, the killer of councillor Minenhle Mkhize.
He said he was hopeful that even the other unresolved cases of murdered councillors would be resolved and the killers duly penalised.
Gcabashe killed Mkhize, a councillor of Cliffdale in January 2022, just two months after he had assumed his political work.
On Tuesday the high court found him guilty of the murder and a day late handed him a life sentence.
Kaunda said this is a step in the right direction, as it brings hope that the other killers will also be held accountable.
“Although the loss of councillor Mkhize’s life cannot be reversed, we extend our gratitude to the courts for ensuring that justice is served.
“We also commend the police for ensuring a watertight case, resulting in the prosecutors securing a successful conviction.
“‘We are hopeful that the police will spare no effort in ensuring that the criminals behind the unsolved murders of other councillors face the full might of the law,” Kaunda said.
He encouraged the community to work with the police to ensure that those who continue to kill councillors are brought to book.
“We appeal to our communities to work with law enforcement agencies so that those responsible for these heinous murders face justice,” said Kaunda.
According to Kaunda, Mkhize is one of two elected representatives in the municipality who have been brutally murdered since the local government elections in November 2021.
The case against those responsible for the murder of Ward 99 Councillor Mnqobi Molefe, who was also killed last year, is still pending in court.
However, another case that is pending before the Durban High Court is the one where Muzimuni Ngiba, a councillor of the ANC in Ward 101, which includes the Cato Manor informal settlement and parts of Mayville, is facing prosecution.
Ngiba is accused of being behind the killing of Siyabonga Mkhize who was a councillor candidate for the ANC in the ward.
He was killed a month before the 2021 elections and he won the ward posthumously.
Ngiba later won the by-election and became the ward councillor until the Hawks nabbed him a few months later and he was charged for the murder of Mkhize.
IOL Politics