Two people are expected to appear in the Scottburgh Magistrate’s Court on Monday in connection with a shooting which the African National Congress in KwaZulu-Natal has branded political.
However, provincial political rivals, the Inkatha Freedom Party, has said it cannot apportion blame until a police investigation is completed and countered that one of its own office bearers was also killed, in a different area, on Friday.
Police spokesperson Director Bala Naidoo said two men were arrested after the shooting of two men near Umkomaas, south of Durban on Friday.
Naidoo said a group of men arrived at a house in Magabeni near Umkomaas on the KwaZulu-Natal south coast demanding to see someone. On discovering that person was not home, they questioned the person who was there and took him with them to another house where they kicked the door open and shot a man.
They also shot the other man who was trying to get away. The two arrested were expected to appear in court on Monday but Naidoo said it was too early to be certain about a motive.
However, the province’s history of political violence and the battle for control between the two parties in KwaZulu-Natal has focused close attention on crimes committed in the run up to the election on April 14.
The ANC issued a statement over the weekend identifying the dead man as Sifiso Msomi (25) and the injured man as Sibonelo Mbutho, two of their activists. The party alleged that two of their attackers were ”known IFP activists in the area”.
The statement, issued by the party’s safety and security spokesperson Bheki Cele, alleged that the attackers were looking for Mbutho’s brother Scelo, who is a branch executive committee member in charge of safety and security.
The IFP’s safety and security spokesperson Velaphi Ndlovu responded by saying: ”We don’t believe in apportioning blame to opponents because that creates violence and we won’t be able to stop it.”
”An IFP official was shot dead on Friday night. We believe as a party that the police must be given a chance to investigate and it is very easy when a person has been arrested to prove a modus operandi,” he said.
”We don’t believe in apportioning blame to opponents because that creates violence and we won’t be able to stop it. Our members haven’t killed anybody until it has been proved by a police investigation. We won’t apportion blame or shift blame until the investigation is over,” Ndlovu said.
He said an IFP office bearer had been found dead outside his home in Ingwavuma, in the north, near the border with Mozambique and Swaziland on Friday night.
Police spokesman Superintendent Jay Naicker said the body of Elliot Mponthsana had been found in his car near his house after his family had reported him missing earlier in the day.
He had two bullet wounds in the neck and boulders had been placed in the road, which had forced him to stop his car.
Two people are currently being questioned by police, Naicker said.
Last week Independent Electoral Commission chairperson Brigalia Bam said a mediation panel set up to defuse pre-election political tension in KwaZulu-Natal may have to be expanded.
She expressed grave concern over apparent rising tensions between the ANC and the IFP in KwaZulu-Natal following the shooting of seven people at a political rally at Wembesi township a few weeks ago. – Sapa