We need efficient crime intelligence to prevent political killings - Dlamini-Zuma
4 September 2017
Durban - The spate of political killings in KwaZulu-Natal calls for an efficient crime intelligence division, which will be able to detect threats, ANC presidential hopeful Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma told the media on Sunday.
Speaking on the sidelines on the last day of the KwaZulu-Natal ANC Women's League conference, at the Playhouse in Durban, Dlamini-Zuma expressed concern over the ongoing killings in the province, and the lack of arrests.
Her comment follows the killing of yet another ANC public representative - 34-year-old Kwazi Mkhize, councillor for Ward 3 at uMkhambathini (Camperdown), outside Pietermaritzburg - who was shot several times as he left an extended branch executive committee meeting on Wednesday night.
His killing comes in the wake of the slaying of other public office bearers and officials, especially in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands.
"Crime intelligence from the police needs to develop more capacity, so that such incidents are detected in advance. The killings are unacceptable and unlawful," said Dlamini-Zuma.
She added that the police needed to work closely with communities, but stressed that people would only assist if they trust the police to protect them.
'A sophisticated plan'
Earlier, KwaZulu-Natal ANC secretary Super Zuma said the killings of party leaders in the province were part of "a sophisticated plan" to destabilise South Africa, and needed to be carefully investigated in order to unmask the killers and those operating behind the scenes. Zuma said the ruling party was observing developments.
"We are very worried about developments in our province, and more so, when we look at the way in which these killings are carried out. They are well organised and systematic and they need to be investigated," he said.
While the killings had affected the ANC mainly, Zuma said that other parties had also experienced killings, and this called for a comprehensive approach.
He added that this was the main reason that the ruling party had called for a judicial inquiry.
"Our observation is that killings are well planned, carefully executed by highly trained individuals, and they are meant to destabilise South Africa, and the entry point is KZN."
Zuma insisted that the killings had the hallmarks of apartheid-era-type operations, where perpetrators carried out their business and then vanished.
He expressed suspicion that the same methods used during apartheid were being used again, and appealed to members of the community to assist a recently appointed commission on political killings.
