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The leadership of the governing ANC has spent recent weeks putting out fires over political killings, tensions with its alliance partner, the SA Communist Party (SACP), and branch-level revolts over candidate selection in various parts of the KwaZulu-Natal.
Thami Nyembe (50), an ANC councillor in Nongoma, had joined the party from the Inkatha Freedom Party last year. He lost the subsequent by-election to the National Freedom Party (NFP), but was appointed to the Nongoma council as an ANC proportional representation councillor. He was shot dead and his wife was wounded in the latest of these attacks, with some of his colleagues suspecting that the matter was related to an internal ANC feud for position and status.
“His security was one of the key issues when he crossed, and the [ANC] leadership dealt with that. This was not an external attack. This was an internal ANC issue,” said an ANC source involved in Nyembe’s defection.
KwaZulu-Natal Premier Willies Mchunu, in his previous capacity as public safety MEC, recently met with the leadership of the various parties in the province to talk about the attack and other acts of violence.
Mchunu, who was this week sworn in as the caretaker premier of KwaZulu-Natal, called for political tolerance from the followers of his party and the opposition.
“This is very disturbing as it comes at a time when the province is bracing itself for elections. All law enforcement agencies and communities have been primed to be extra careful and to work for peace during this critical period,” he said.
Nyembe’s murder came in the same week as a fatal shooting of two ANC Youth League members in Newcastle, northern KwaZulu-Natal, following heated arguments within the party about candidates’ lists for councillors. Wandile Ngubeni was killed and Mafika Mndebele, the party’s regional secretary, was critically wounded in the attack.
Meanwhile, Durban was still reeling after the murder of ANC councillor Zodwa Sibiya, who was shot dead at her home in the city’s Glebelands Hostel on April 16.
While trying to bring the situation under control, municipal offices in Kokstad were set alight by angry community members who took to the streets demanding the removal of ANC mayor Nosisa Jojozi and her deputy, Bheki Mtolo.
The province was also forced to step in at nearby Ingwe Local Municipality and place it under administration after a collapse of governance. This was caused by infighting between ANC councillors ahead of the August poll – this was similar to what happened to Umzinyathi District Municipality months earlier, which was without a mayor for months because of internal ANC tensions and a breakdown in relations with the NFP.
Provincial Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) spokesperson Thabani Ngwira expressed concerns about the killings and the violent protests, saying that a multiparty team led by Mchunu and provincial IEC head Mawethu Mosery was dealing with problem areas to ensure that parties were able to campaign freely, and to ensure that free and fair elections could take place.
Additional SA Police Service members from specialised units have been deployed hostels in Glebelands and KwaMashu to bring stability to these hot spots.
Meanwhile, the SACP in KwaZulu-Natal last week held a provincial working committee meeting to discuss the political killings, which it said were “worsening”.
Its chairperson, Themba Mthembu, who claims to have received death threats himself, said most alliance leaders were “currently under heavy personal protection” to safeguard their lives.
“This is not a desirable and sustainable situation. As we move towards local government elections, there are indications from the rising violent protests that more political killings may by looming,” he said.
Mthembu said key municipal staff had been murdered in outlying towns, while a hit list on staff in Pietermaritzburg had been circulated earlier this year.
The SACP has called for the creation of a provincial peace monitoring forum involving parties, security forces and civil society to help deal with tensions between now and August.
