Jaspreet Kindra
A fresh cycle of political violence has gripped KwaZulu-Natal in the run-up to the November local government elections, with Inkatha Freedom Party stronghold Nongoma the centre of this storm.
The town has been witness to the killing of at least two IFP leaders in a fresh burst of violence in the past two months with political leaders from the two main parties trading allegations openly for the first time.
The African National Congress has been accused of using a hit squad to eliminate IFPcouncillors in its bid to wrest the northern KwaZulu-Natal town from the IFP amid accusations by both parties that each has been politically intolerant.
With the ANC preparing the launch of a branch in Nongoma this week, observers warn of an escalation in violence as the two political parties seek to make their presence felt in the area. This could undermine the peace efforts initiated between the parties at a national level, which has led to the installation of a coalition government in KwaZulu-Natal and the easing of political intolerance which has claimed hundreds of lives in the past two decades.
Independent violence monitor in the province Mary de Haas has called for an urgent investigation into the violence, which she says has only recently become “overtly political. “With the ANC asserting itself, it has become more conspicuous, but the political overtones have been there for at least six years,” De Haas said. Violence has escalated in the area since 1994, she said, but because the ANC was not involved, attention was focused on Richmond.
IFP MPAlbert Mncwango claims the attacks in Nongoma are part of an ANC plan to eliminate the IFP’s leadership in the area before the local government elections.
ANC MPL Senzo Mchunu dismissed Mncwango’s claim as “nonsense”, saying that “in fact, one of the two leaders killed in the past four days, who they are claiming to be an IFP member, belonged to the ANC”.
Mchunu adds: “It is a fact that more than 20 people have been killed in Nongoma since April 1999. There are three categories of killing: politically motivated, taxi-related or arising out of faction fighting. And they all tend to overlap. We are suggesting why don’t the two political parties sit down in the area and talk.”
Nongoma, also home to King Goodwill Zwelithini, has long frustrated the ANC’s attempts to make inroads into the IFP’s traditional rural base.
Mncwango claims the town now stands to acquire “flashpoint” status, which, he claims, will help wrest it from the IFP’s control.
Among the latest incidents was the killing of popular IFP Zululand regional councillor Themba Ntshangase on Good Friday.
Ntshangase’s murder, when he stopped on the road to a church in Dlodlomo outside Nongoma, to pour water into his car radiator, was followed by the killing of youth leader Matshitshi Mtshali on Monday night. Mtshali’s political allegiance has become a subject of yet another dispute with both the political parties claiming him as their member.
The Ntshangase killing was the second attack on IFP members in the past two months. IFP deputy chair in the KwaMinya area in Nongoma, Mfuneni Buthelezi, was critically injured earlier last month when he was attacked by two gunmen who stormed his Nongoma home.
A police report on the KwaMinya killing, submitted in Parliament last month and identifying an IFP-turned-ANC member as the mastermind behind the killings, came under attack by the ANC and the DP for its speculative content.
Police representative Inspector Sabelo Zwane said they could not rule out the possibility of the attacks being politically motivated. A task force has been called in to investigate the killings. No arrests have been made so far.