Durban — KwaZulu-Natal Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC Sihle Zikalala was left concerned about the murder of councillors in the province.
Zikalala was reacting to the murder of eThekwini Municipality councillor Mnqobi Molefe who was gunned down by gunmen in the early hours of Monday.
Zikalala said on September 8, two ward councillors under the Msinga Local Municipality were attacked by gunmen who opened fire on the vehicle they were travelling in. In this incident, councillor Siyanda Magubane of ward 11, succumbed to his injuries.
He said the sphere of local government in the province and country was built on the back of the work done by councillors who are tasked with representing the interests of their ward or constituency. They serve as a bridge between the community and the council.
“This morning (Monday) we once more woke up to the harrowing news of yet another assassination of a councillor in our province, this is the second assassination within the space of a week,” Zikalala said.
“Today (Monday), we learnt of the sad news of the assassination of a ward 99 councillor in eThekwini, Mnqobi Molefe, who was also gunned down by unknown gunmen.”
Zikalala said the pain and loss that we continue to suffer as a province at the hands of criminals hell-bent on weakening the sphere of local government had reached epic proportions.
He called on law-enforcement agencies to leave no stone unturned in their quest to apprehend the terrorists responsible for these acts of treason.
“The attacks on our councillors should be viewed as a crime against the state and the people of South Africa,” Zikalala said.
“The sphere of local government within our province will not succumb to the will of the forces of evil who seek to destabilise it.”
Zikalala also called on communities to come forward with information that will assist law-enforcement agencies in their investigations.
The MEC expressed his condolences to the families of the councillors, their community, political party and the municipalities they served under.
Earlier, eThekwini mayor Mxolisi Kaunda called on law-enforcement agencies to work tirelessly to find Molefe’s killers.
Kaunda condemned the killing and called on members of the community who may have witnessed the incident to work with police to find the perpetrators.
“On behalf of the people of eThekwini, particularly residents of Ward 99, we would like to convey our deepest condolences to the Molefe family. We trust that they will find strength in knowing that his untimely death is not only a loss for the family, but the entire municipality. We have indeed been robbed of the skills and knowledge of this young leader who was dedicated to serving his community,” Kaunda said.
He also expressed concern that since last year, there had been an increase in the number of killings of public representatives in the municipality. As a result, the leadership of the municipality sought the intervention of Police Minister Bheki Cele.
“It is unfortunate that while this intervention was beginning to yield positive results, we have witnessed this latest incident,” Kaunda said.
During President Cyril Ramaphosa’s keynote address at the South African Local Government Association council of mayors in East London last Thursday, the president spoke about the attack on councillors and municipal administrators.
“We have seen a deeply disturbing trend of attacks on councillors and municipal administrators. I am told that more than 300 councillors have been killed in the past few years by virtue of being councillors,” Ramaphosa said.
“Although this violence has varying causes, we need to once again take a hard look at the extent to which this is a manifestation of something much deeper. Is it a result of public anger or is it because some of our municipalities have been captured by other interests? Have criminals taken over some of our municipalities?”
Daily News