Farouk Chothia
A SENIOR Inkatha Freedom Party leader has been charged with the murder of two IFP members who were shot dead after organising a joint IFP and ANC peace rally in the Bhambayi squatter settlement, near Durban, last weekend.
A police spokesman said this week that Bhambayis IFP chairman, Victor Shawe (49), and two other men had been charged with fatally shooting Johnson Nqambi and Mnyamezeli Nzuzwana in an attack in which two other IFP members were wounded.
Shawe, who is out on bail of R1 000 pending a decision by Natals attorney general on whether or not to prosecute him for the murder of two other people shot dead in Bhambayi in August last year, appeared in the Verulam Magistrates Court on Tuesday. He and his co-accused, Zandisile Maduma (21) and Mboneni Khonjwayo (21), have been charged with two counts of murder, two counts of attempted murder and with illegal possession of firearms and ammunition. A bail application is to be heard today.
Nqambi was the IFPs chief representative in peace talks with the ANC in Bhambayi. He took over this function from Shawe about six months ago, according to National Peace Accord (NPA) spokesman Dennis Nkosi.
The attack last Sunday evening came after about 1 000 people had pledged their commitment to peace at the IFP/ANC rally in Bhambayi the previous day.
The settlement has been a flashpoint for violence. About 200 people died there in the 12 months leading up to the April poll — and a Goldstone Commission report said that kwaZulu Police hit squad members had been deployed in the settlement.
The NPAs Nkosi said Nqambi and his colleagues formed part of an IFP/ANC/police team that monitors Bhambayi on a 24-hour basis in a bid to prevent violence in the area.
According to the police, Nqambis attackers followed him home after he had ended a monitoring shift, and shot him. When Sokhanyile and Cele went to his aid, they were shot and wounded. The killers then went to Nzuzwanas home and gunned him down.
Speaking to the Mail, Nkosi said attempts by anti- peace elements to stoke violence in the settlement had backfired.
IFP spokesman Ed Tillet said that while he had not investigated the case, he would caution against jumping to false conclusions.
He said it could be purely coincidental that those attacked were involved in peace initiatives, and that there could have been other motives behind the incident.
The IFP believed the accused should fall under the harsh scrutiny of the law but should be presumed innocent until proven guilty, Tillet said.