Makhosini Nkosi
There are fears that a bloody confrontation could arise between Inkatha Freedom Party and the African National Congress supporters in Nongoma when the ANC begins putting up election posters in the northern KwaZulu- Natal town.
Local IFP leader and MP Albert Mncwango warned he could not guarantee that the people of Nongoma would not react violently to the move by the ANC to put up their election material. “Nine of the people who were killed by the ANC in front of its Shell House headquarters were from Nongoma. Others were maimed during the incident. The mere mention of the ANC provokes anger among the people here,” he said.
Nongoma is a no-go area to all political parties, except the IFP. An ANC member was gunned down last month after he had helped distribute ANC pamphlets. Commander Ngcobo – who had been recruited from the IFP – was killed by unknown gunmen near a taxi rank. A businessman, Sandile Shamase, was also killed last week following rumours that he was an ANC member.
Police have not been asked to provide extra security when the ANC puts up its posters, but police sources say there is an army battalion on standby to monitor taxi violence in the area.
A Nongoma policeman – who prefers to remain anonymous – said a hit list of alleged ANC members was forwarded to the police station. Ngcobo’s and Shamase’s names topped the list.
Mncwango denied knowledge of the hit list, accusing the ANC – particularly its northern KwaZulu-Natal elections co- ordinator, Senzo Mchunu – of trying to “assemble a hit list against IFP leaders”. He says both his name and that of Nongoma’s mayor, Sipho Sikhonde, are featured on the ANC’s list.
A school inspector said there were reports of teachers who were intimidated for allegedly being ANC sympathisers. A number of teachers have fled the Nongoma district in the past few years following allegations that they were ANC members. Some left their belongings behind and have never returned to retrieve them.
During the 1996 local government elections, IFP candidates breezed into power in Nongoma without any opposition. Mncwango maintains that the people of Nongoma are “99,9% IFP”. He claims ANC campaigners do not follow “proper procedures associated with the royal protocol of the area”, which is the headquarters of the Zulu royal family. He added that until the ANC addressed the matter of the Shell House massacre, the party would not succeed in making inroads into the communities of Nongoma and Mahlabathini, near Ulundi.
Mchunu disagreed. He said leaders of other parties, particularly the ANC, are intimidated and, in some cases, murdered. “There is a situation of complete lawlessness in Nongoma. Commander [Ngcobo] was gunned down in broad daylight. There have been no arrests. The matter has died down,” he said.
Mchunu said the ANC has been unable to campaign in the area. “There is strong evidence that using local people for our campaigns could lead to such people being butchered like Commander. The IFP is taking it for granted that Nongoma is a no-go area for the ANC.”
Mchunu says Mncwango has been mobilising local people to reject development projects spearheaded by KwaZulu-Natal ANC MECs.
“It’s been proven that the people of Nongoma are not entirely IFP as alleged,” he said. “[MECfor Economic Affairs and Tourism and ANCdeputy president] Jacob Zuma held a successful launch of a multi-purpose community centre in Nongoma recently.
“The people of Nongoma defied Mncwango’s efforts and supported the project in big numbers.”