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The South African National Civic Organisation in Mpumalanga claims that ANC leaders have hired hitmen to assassinate its members in the Dipaleseng municipal area near Balfour.
The civic organisation believes that Dipaleseng councillors were behind the shooting of eight members in the past couple of weeks in Grootvlei.
Sanco’s regional secretary, Bonging Mwale, said the ANC members resorted to violence because they did not want to be questioned for corruption, nepotism and patronage.
The Dipaleseng area has been politically unstable since 2009, when residents went on lengthy service delivery protests against under-performing ANC councillors.
It has been fertile ground for the formation of civic organisations, which have previously won wards from the ANC during elections.
Current mayor, Mafunda Makhubu, once broke away from the ANC and formed his Sisonke Civic Organisation that won a ward in the 2011 local government elections. Makhubu rejoined the ANC and was deployed as mayor in 2015.
“The ANC councillors took offence at our launch in the area and that we have former senior ANC members in our management”, Mwale said.
“We are highly disappointed and disgusted at the calculated and premeditated anti-Sanco behaviour by those leading local government in Dipaleseng. The emergence of a hitlist is a course for serious concern, and demonstrates a high level of paranoia by imaginers of monopoly of the ground. But again, these attacks are an instrument to silence our existence and vibrancy of our programmes and activities,” he added.
The tension is working against provincial ANC chairperson and Premier David Mabuza’s attempts to unite ANC factions and alliance partners in the province.
Provincial ANC secretary Mandla Ndlovu said the incidents in Dipaleseng were “unfortunate”.
“My understanding is that some of our members were recalled and they joined Sanco. They are now fighting the ANC and we are saying they must stop channelling their anger to the council”, Ndlovu said. “In this province we’re re-building the alliance”, he said.
It is not the first time that the ANC in the province has been involved in violent confrontation with an alliance partner.
In January 2015, ANC and SACP members in Ehlanzeni region bludgeoned each other with pickaxe handles, and pelted stones and bricks in KaNyamazane township outside Mbombela.
The ANC was trying to prevent the SACP from having a memorial lecture on its stalwart, Joe Slovo, and former Mbombela council speaker, Jimmy Mohlala, who was assassinated in 2009 for blowing the whistle on the 2010 Football World Cup stadium.
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