‘We never expected it’: ANC’s Zikalala shocked by Inanda political killings

KwaZulu-Natal Premier and ANC provincial chair, Sihle Zikalala, says the governing party will assist with the burial arrangements of the three women who were gunned down on Saturday during a drive-by shooting in Inanda, north of Durban.

Zikalala on Monday led a delegation of ANC leaders to visit the families of the women.

The ANC members were gunned down during a community meeting to vote for their ward candidate ahead of the local government elections. Four people, aged between 41 and 70 years old, were injured during the shootout.

Zikalala said the ANC was shocked and saddened by the shooting, and they were putting a team together to assist the families of the women, who are aged between 34 and 60 years old.

“Through the provincial office of the secretary, comrade Mdumiseni Ntuli, we are establishing a team that will come to work with families and help them through the burial support,” Zikalala said.

According to police, it is alleged a group of people were standing at the front gate of Buhlebethu Primary School at Newtown C in Inanda when a black Opel Corsa bakkie opened fire on them. The vehicle had five occupants who were armed with handguns.

Police spokesperson Jay Naicker said police were investigating three counts of murder and four counts of attempted murder.

Zikalala calls for community assistance

Zikalala condemned the shooting, saying it reflected barbarism and had a “thuggest [sic] element” that could not be accepted in the ANC.

“We have requested and insisted that the police must investigate this matter, but we further call on the community to help us in investigating the matter so that we will know who was behind all of the things and those people should be brought to book,” he said.

The premier added the ANC in the province had audited more than 95% of wards that were expected to select candidates in the province ahead of the municipal elections on 1 November.

He said community meetings to elect candidates had been going smoothly, although in some areas there were tensions on the ground.

“But those tensions have been confined within the movement. Mostly what we have seen was the appeals when members are dissatisfied…

“And there have been instances where some marched to the [ANC] offices, but we never expected that in a voting process of the ANC, they will be someone who will just come and shoot and kill people like this,” Zikalala said.