eThekwini councillor gunned down in Mvutshini
The Ward 99 eThekwini councillor was visiting his fiancé on the South Coast when the incident happened.
The KwaZulu-Natal MEC for the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) Sihle Zikalala said he was concerned about the murder of councillors in the province.
This comes after a councillor from eThekwini Municipality was gunned down in Mvutshini, near Margate on Monday, September 12.
According to Mnqobi Molefe’s family, the Ward 99 eThekwini councillor was visiting his fiancé on the South Coast when the incident happened.
It added that they were told that unknown people killed him in front of his fiancé after forcing a door open. Cogta MEC, Sihle Zikalala said the attacks on our councillors should be viewed as a crime against the state and the people of South Africa.
He said the sphere of local government within the province will not succumb to the will of the forces of evil who seek to destabilise it.
Zikalala added that the pain and loss that we continue to suffer as a province at the hands of criminals that are hell-bent on weakening the sphere of local government has reached epic proportions.
“We call upon law enforcement agencies to leave no stone unturned in their quest to apprehend the terrorists responsible for these acts of treason. We call upon our communities to come forward with information that will assist law enforcement agencies in their investigations. We also express our condolences to the families of the councillors, their community, political party, and the municipalities they served under,” said Zikalala.
The KwaZulu-Natal ANC provincial secretary, Bheki Mtolo said the brutal and violent manner in which Molefe’s life has been taken, is something that can’t be easily erased from their minds.
“We wish to assure the Molefe family that law enforcement agencies have been mobilised to track down the perpetrators of this barbaric act. We support the call that a team of ballistic experts need to be assigned to ensure the gathering of evidence and to carry spot examinations of all firearms, including licensed firearms at all crime scenes. We are also suggesting that sophisticated technology must be utilised to conduct touch DNA and fingerprinting on firearms and dangerous weapons and other exhibits found at crime scenes,” said Mtolo.
Meanwhile, Zikala said they also remain concerned about the continuing assassination of traditional leaders.
Zikalala said this while the Qiniselani Manyuswa Traditional Council interim leader has been missing for a year after being allegedly kidnapped in his Izingolweni home in April 2021.
Zikalala said: “This is a cancer that we have to fight as a united front from all sectors of our community. Some discussions are taking place between Cogta and the Department of Community Safety on what extra measures can be taken to assure the safety of Amakhosi and Izinduna.”
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