South Africa: 52 Councillors Killed in KZN Since 2011

At least 52 councillors have been killed in ongoing battles for position and political influence in KwaZulu-Natal since 2011.

This is the latest report from the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Political Killings which has found that most executions stemmed from internal wrangling for positions within the parties.

The committee said of the 52 murder cases of councillors, 31 ANC councillors were killed while 14 were from the IFP.

The NFP lost four of its councillors while the EFF and ACDP lost two and one respectively.

"Alarmingly, 103 officials working within municipalities as political office bearers and officials in political offices were killed.

"Murder cases that were reported before the 2016 and 2021 local government elections were mainly as a result of fighting over councillors' positions; where candidate councillors were eliminated," Police Minister Bheki Cele said on Tuesday.

While in the past, political killings were predominantly the result of the ANC and IFP fighting for turf in the KZN south coast, eThekwini Metro and the Zululand region, both the ANC and IFP have denied attacking each other in recent months.

The position of a councillor does not only come with political influence, it also comes with lucrative perks, with an average councillor's salary now at R541,000 a year.

The committee said it also found that violent competition between so-called business forums over community development projects or tenders was also fueling tensions.

Since July 2018, the Task Team has investigated 321 dockets.

"The cases under scrutiny by the team include 155 cases of murder; 51 of attempted murder, 77 of intimidation, 12 cases of conspiracy to commit murder with 26 other ad hoc cases.

"So far the work of the Task Team has resulted in the arrest of 348 suspects who have already been charged in 233 cases.

"Sixty-two suspects have been convicted while 155 are going through the court processes. Seventeen arrested suspects have since died during the court processes," said Cele.

As the 2024 elections draw closer, police are on high alert for a possible resurgence of political violence in the highly contested province.

The coalition of the IFP and the DA is expected to mount a serious campaign to reduce the ANC to below 50% in the province.

This article first appeared on Scrolla

Photo: Scrolla