Justin Pearce in Cape Town
ASSASSINATIONS in squatter camps and high-handed=20 manoeuvrings by an Eastern Cape MEC: these two=20 occurrences in the Western Cape in the past week have=20 more in common than meets the eye.
Both threaten the process of local government=20 transformation, but in a way that may not be obvious:=20 the National Party-aligned United Civic Organisation=20 (UCO) favoured by local government MEC Peter Marais has=20 connections with the squatter warlords who have been at=20 the centre of violence in Cape townships for more than=20 a decade .
This week Marais unilaterally substituted members of=20 the UCO for the original nominees on the non-statutory=20 side of the Cape Town Transitional Metropolitan=20 Council. This move, announced the day before the new=20 councils were due to take office, allows the NP to=20 dominate the TMC by giving it representation on both=20 the statutory and non-statutory sides of the council.
Other political parties, including the ANC, are=20 incensed that Marais acted without the concurrence of=20 the provincial committee on local government.=20
They are ready to challenge Marais’ action in court if=20 the situation cannot be resolved. This could delay the=20 new council in its urgent task of compiling a voters’=20 roll before the October elections.
Prominent UCO members include Jeffery Nongwe, whose=20 “Big Eight” vigilante gang appears to have been the=20 instigators of the taxi conflicts which tore apart the=20 Cape townships in 1992 and again earlier this year. In=20 the 1980s Nongwe was a leader of the “witdoek”=20 vigilantes who supported authorities in their efforts=20 to move squatters.
UCO is headed by Lawrence Makhwela, an associate of=20 former “witdoek” leaders Mali Hoza and Johnson=20 Nxobongwana — both of whom are now NP members in the=20 Western Cape legislature. Nongwe was previously aligned=20 with the Western Cape Civic Organisation (Wecco), a=20 body held together by its members’ opposition to the=20 South African National Civic Organisation (Sanco).
Two assassinations last weekend also appear to be=20 connected to the ongoing conflict between the Sanco=20 leadership and their followers, and squatter leaders=20 who are concerned with building power bases.
Shadrack Mhambi, a bishop of the Apostolic Church,=20 chair of the Western Cape Council of Churches, and=20 chair of Sanco in Boy’s Town, a section of Crossroads,=20 was gunned down on Saturday afternoon. Mhambi was known=20 to be close to Nongwe.
There have been allegations that Mhambi was killed by=20 Sanco loyalists who were concerned about him and others=20 being drawn into Nongwe’s powerful network of=20 influence. His death has also been interpreted as=20 revenge for the killing of Simon Mqulwana, whose shack=20 was set alight allegedly by youths from Mhambi’s=20 fiefdom of Boy’s Town.
The second assassination on Saturday was that of=20 Sidwell Sityebi, who was shot dead in the Brown’s Farm=20 squatter camp in Philippi. Like Mhambi, Sityebi had=20 moved away from the mainstream of Sanco activists, but=20 by means of threats, extortion and control of resources=20 had established his own zone of influence in Brown’s=20 Farm. Sityebi was also a taxi operator.
The assassinations threaten to ignite a further round=20 of violence in Cape Flats townships.=20
This too is likely to seriously mpede the process of=20 voter registration.
Bloody conflict in the Cape townships has flared up=20 whenever a significant step has been made in the=20 process of democratic transformation, leading to=20 speculation about Third Force involvement. The 1992=20 taxi war came at a time when multiparty negotiations=20 were making good progress, and the 1994 war began as=20 Sanco launched its municipal election campaign. Forces=20 allied to Nongwe appear to be central in sustaining=20 these conflicts.
This has prompted the comment from a number of=20 observers that the latest round of killings and=20 reprisals, coming as voter registration was about to=20 get underway, were too well-timed to be regarded as=20 merely co-incidental.