Durban — Police Minister Bheki Cele and his political killings inter-ministerial committee members will be visiting Nongoma, northern KwaZulu-Natal, to discuss political attacks on councillors on Thursday.
Cele announced his visit to Nongoma on Wednesday during a media briefing where he updated the public on the progress that has been made by the police’s political killings unit. He said he would meet councillors and political parties in Nongoma to try to find solutions to the ongoing attacks on councillors under Nongoma Local Municipality.
Without mentioning the National Freedom Party (NFP) by name, the minister suggested that the attacks could have been organised within the party, which has been complaining and demanding protection for its councillors. Cele said he was disturbed that the party has been blaming the police for not ending the attacks on its councillors, but had failed to look within.
“I will be meeting these parties who have been complaining about lack of policing in Nongoma, but what they don’t say is that these attacks on the councillors could have been planned inside. I wish to urge these parties to look closer to home for the problem before going out and blaming others,” said Cele.
He added that some of the attacks have been faked so that the councillors get protection and give work to their security companies, adding that one of the councillors was found to have shot his car 30 times and reported that he survived the attack. He said the car was shot to a point that if the councillor had been inside the car he would not have survived.
NFP leader Canaan Mdletshe said it was impossible that the attack on the party councillors would have been organised within, but said Cele’s comment could have been informed by the rumours that there was an NFP leader who had called party councillors to vote against the party during a motion of no confidence against the IFP leadership.
“We don’t think these attacks are being organised within our party, but we do know that there was one party leader who did not want to work with the ANC and EFF to take power in Nongoma, but we do not think he could go as far as that,” said Mdletshe.
Several NFP councillors have been attacked, including Ntombenhle Mchunu who was shot and killed in July.
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