The uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MK Party) has called for the Political Killings Task Team to immediately investigate what appears to have been a planned assassination of Lastborn Shazi, the party’s regional leader in Ugu on the South Coast of KwaZulu-Natal.
Shazi, who was on the party’s proportional representation list, is believed to have been cornered by gun-wielding assassins while at his home in uMzumbe on Monday night, just two days after the municipal elections.
Shazi was apparently in a virtual meeting with the party’s regional elections team at the time. The assassins are said to have knocked on the door and when he was about to open it, he was met by a volley of shots.
On Tuesday, the MK Party described Shazi’s murder as a devastating blow to the party’s regional elections machinery.
“The party calls on the killings task team to urgently investigate this shooting, establish the circumstances surrounding his death and ensure that the shooter, together with anyone found to have been involved in planning or facilitating this killing, is identified and brought to justice. We demand a thorough impartial and expedited investigation,” MK Party KZN spokesperson Mkhuseli Mlengane said.
He said the province had a painful history of political killings.
“The continued loss of lives through violence is a serious concern that demands decisive action from law enforcement authorities. No individual should lose their lives because of their political involvement or organisational responsibilities,” he said.
KwaZulu-Natal has recorded several incidents of political killing leading up to the municipal elections.
Over the weekend, Ntombi Mkhize, an ActionSA activist and councillor candidate under Maphumulo local municipality, was stabbed and strangled.
Last month, ANC councillor Lungani Makhathini, together with fellow comrades, were shot dead while on a campaign trail in uMgababa, on the South Coast of Durban. The pair were among three ANC volunteers conducting a door-to-door campaign in the area, accompanied by two bodyguards, when they were allegedly ambushed by gunmen travelling in a white Isuzu bakkie.
On Sunday, Lieutenant-General Tebello Mosikili, the deputy national commissioner for policing and chairperson of the National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure, said 20 murders linked to political activities had been recorded before the key elections.
Gauteng tops the number of killings and KZN occupies the second spot. The police also announced that out of 331 high-risk voting stations nationally, the province accounted for 165, with 124 under eThekwini, the only metro in KZN.
*This is developing story