DURBAN – The task team, set up to probe political murders in KwaZulu-Natal, has achieved an 83% conviction rate.
This was revealed by Police Minister Bheki Cele during a press briefing in Durban on Wednesday afternoon. He said since 2018, the task team had investigated 226 dockets and made 251 arrests on politically-related cases.
"Forty-six accused have been found guilty, of which 30 were convicted for murder," Cele said.
Out of 34 murder cases, nine life sentences were handed down.
Cele said 22 accused have had 10 to 50 years imposed on them, while 12 accused have been convicted for no more than 10 years and the remainder are going through the court processes.
"In addition, 69 case dockets unrelated to the task team’s mandate, were also considered for investigation by the task team. The reason for this is that these cases were somehow linked to politically-related cases, either with similar suspects or through ballistics," Cele said.
He said the team is also conducting intelligence-driven operations, looking into 107 cases.
Cele said more than 200 unlicensed firearms were confiscated.
Cele added there has been a decrease in political killings from 2016:
- 2017 - 20
- 2018 - 12
- 2019 – 14
- 2020 – 14
- 2021 - 04
“The murder rate has dropped significantly, however, we are not in the clear yet, political intolerance through intimidation and extortion still remains a cause for concern, especially as we approach local government elections in the coming months.”
He said interventions are in place to deal with this, pro-actively and reactively.
IOL