ANC eThekwini councillor nabbed for allegedly murdering two party members

An ANC councillor in the eThekwini region has been arrested in connection with the murders of two party members.

The regional party on Monday said it had noted reports of the arrest of the councillor and other suspects.

The arrests relate to the murders of ANC councillors Siyabonga Mkhize and Mzukisi Nyanga.

Mkhize was shot dead in October during a door-to-door campaign in Cato Crest in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), ahead of last year’s local government elections.

The councillor, who was a candidate for ward 101, was killed while he was with Nyanga.

ANC eThekwini has confirmed that the arrested councillor, who was Mkhize’s successor, had been brought in for questioning by police before he was later charged.

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The regional party said it wanted justice to be served for the deceased party members.

“While we understand and accept the principle of natural justice, that a person is presumed innocent until proven otherwise, we, however, call for justice for our fallen comrades. We stand with the families of our fallen comrades and we want to see justice,”  ANC eThekwini spokesperson Mlondolozi Mkhize said in a statement.

“Our freedom is threatened each time a member of the community is murdered or robbed.

“It is for these reasons we implore law enforcement agencies to be firm and act decisively to continue to root out rogue elements behind the killing of leaders and innocent members of society in our region,” Mkhize continued.

Mkhize further indicated that there will be a stand-in councillor in the place of the suspect.

“We will be watching this case closely up until its final stages. Importantly, we want to assure the community affected by the absence of the councillor, who is in custody, that the ANC will deploy a PR councillor to service the community,” he added.

Political killings

The ANC has been plagued by politically-motivated killings, which have been a regular occurrence in KwaZulu-Natal, with sporadic politically-motivated attacks reported in the Eastern Cape and Limpopo in recent times.

In January this year, ANC ward councillor Minenhle Mkhize was killed just after arriving home in Hammarsdale, KZN.

Mkhize had just arrived from Unit 6 where he had been playing soccer when the incident occurred.

Seven empty cartridges were found at the scene, according to South African Police Service (Saps).

ANC member Godfrey Gouwe was killed in a hail of bullets on 8 July 2021.

According to Rekord, Gouwe’s body was discovered by his 18-year-old son just a few houses away from the crime scene in Ga-Rankuwa.

READ MORE: How KZN became the breeding ground for SA’s political assassins

In separate incident, two ANC members were shot – one died – while driving on Solomon Mahlangu Drive in Mamelodi.

The police said the pair were travelling from a voting station in Nellmapius when the incident took place in August 2021.

The following month, three women – Ncamisile Shange, Beatrice Nzama and Philisiwe Jili – were also gunned down during a drive-by shooting in Inanda, KZN.

The women were attending an ANC committee meeting to finalise the selection of candidates for the elections when they were killed outside a school in the area north of Durban.

Meanwhile, ANC councillor Tshepo Motaung was shot 20 times in September 2021 while on his way home in Mabopane, Tshwane.

Motaung’s murder was previously reported to be politically-motivated and linked to the ANC’s councillor candidate-selection disputes.

‘Authorities must act,’ says ANC after recent attacks on party members