Publications
Partners
- Police Minister Bheki Cele sat down with warring political parties in the Nongoma Local Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal.
- Due to ongoing political violence, only two councillors stay in their homes in the volatile area.
- The meeting heard how one councillor, an IFP man, stripped during a council meeting earlier this year.
Local politicians in the Nongoma Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal blamed each other for ongoing political violence in the area which is so bad that councillors have fled their homes in fear for their lives.
In a press briefing following a meeting with politicians in the area, Police Minister Bheki Cele confirmed that councillors merely blamed each other in a closed meeting on Thursday.
After removing the IFP from the council earlier in the year, a coalition of councillors from the ANC, NFP and EFF fled their homes as violence in the municipality reached unprecedented levels, the councillors told News24.
The councillors said they refused to attend physical meetings in chambers because they feared for their lives.
READ | 'Pure greed': Cele names, shames political killers, reveals 152 politicians gunned down since 2011
A councillor told News24 that only two councillors currently stayed at their homes.
Meanwhile, the IFP said accusations that they were behind the violence were unfair.
The coalition members told Cele that on the day that NFP councillor Mphathiseni Manqele was shot and injured, the IFP tabled a motion of no confidence in the council.
Manqele survived the hit, which came less than a month after another NFP councillor, Ntombenhle Mchunu, 75, was shot dead.
To show Cele how unwieldy meetings had become, the councillors shared a video of an IFP councillor stripping in council in February.
The councillors told Cele that the "numbers game" linked to motions of no confidence against the leadership was at the root of the killings.
A councillor told News24 that KZN Transport, Liaison and Safety MEC Sipho Hlomuka urged the councillors "not to finish each other".
Another councillor described the atmosphere as so tense one could cut it with a knife.
READ | Between the ballot and the barrel of a gun: How a court order is fuelling KZN political violence
One councillor is quoted as saying: "NFP councillors are getting phone calls from a private number that tells them, 'We're going to shoot you and your bodyguards if you don't resign.'"
Addressing the media, Cele said he visited the council because of the tensions in the "hotspot" municipality.
He said:
"I really didn't get much joy as to how it will be solved. I didn't get the comfort... I said it in the meeting."
He said councillors only stood up and complained, offering no solutions.
He said even if the councillors reached a negotiation settlement, police would still take action on the murders.
