Assassination crisis: SA’s deadly political landscape

It is already a fact of life that South Africa is one of the most violent countries, in terms of our rate of murders… but now an international anticrime body is warning that we are in danger of becoming the assassination capital of the world.

More than that, believes the Global Initiative against Transnational Organised Crime (GITOC), “targeted killings” will probably follow previous patterns and increase in the run-up to the elections.

In its latest report, GITOC says “political violence and assassinations pose a very real threat to the country’s democracy.

“They are not an isolated phenomenon and they intersect with organised crime and criminal networks. The intertwining of criminal networks and political assassinations in South Africa underscores the urgent need for comprehensive strategies to tackle organised crime and stop targeted killings.”

The report says political assassinations account for 24% of targeted killings, compared to 35% being related to organised crime, with minibus taxi killings comprising 34% of the total.

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Its SA Observatory has recorded at least 10 politically related assassinations between January and April this year, compared with 31 for the whole of last year.

“Politically related assassinations have a particularly detrimental impact on governance and democracy,” it adds.

In the transition to democracy in the late ’80s and early ’90s, targeted killings saw bloodshed across KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng as the ANC and Inkatha Freedom battled against each other.

Since then, judging by reports, it seems as though the targets of hits are now more likely to be people from the same party, as the jockeying for positions – and hence space at the trough of taxpayer money – intensifies.

This awful onslaught is further confirmation that many of our political leaders have no respect for either democracy or our constitution, because they are prepared to use violence to subvert the genuine will of the people.

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