Durban – Police Minister Bheki Cele has provided a progress report on cases related to political killings in KwaZulu-Natal.
On behalf of the inter-ministerial committee (IMC) on political killings, Cele held a media briefing in Durban on Wednesday.
Cele said that the IMC held a meeting in Durban on Tuesday where it presented a detailed briefing on the work of the integrated multidisciplinary task team investigating political killings in KZN from 2018 to date.
He said that the last update was in February 2022.
“Through the integrated work of the task team, the IMC is as committed to arresting those who use violence to settle political scores,” Cele said.
The task team includes the SAPS, National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) supported by the State Security Agency and Correctional Services, Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube and Community Safety and Liaison MEC Sipho Hlomuka.
“It is on this score that the IMC wishes to categorically put on record that the initial mandate given to the committee by His Excellency President Cyril Ramaphosa in 2018, not to allow KZN to be a killing field, is still on course,” Cele said.
The minister said that as South Africa moves closer to the elections which are expected to take place within the first half of 2024, the IMC felt it necessary to provide a briefing on the latest developments around the investigation of politically linked violence in KZN.
“The committee has been brought up to speed on the work of law enforcement agencies, who are dealing with violent attacks stemming from the pockets of political intolerance and violence, elimination of competition and in some cases just pure greed,” Cele said.
“These incidents include targeted threats and hits on councillors, other political players such as office-bearers and traditional leaders in the KwaZulu-Natal province.”
Cele said that since July 4, 2018, the task team had investigated 321 dockets, which is 63 more dockets compared with the last update that was provided in February last year.
He said the figure includes 134 cases reported from 2011 to June 2018, before the commencement of the work of the task team.
“The cases under scrutiny by the team include 155 cases of murder, 51 of attempted murder, 77 of intimidation, 12 cases of conspiracy to commit murder with 26 other ad hoc cases,” Cele said.
He said the task team has arrested 348 suspects who have already been charged in 233 cases, 62 suspects have been convicted while 155 are going through the court processes and 17 suspects have since died during the court processes.
Cele added that firearms were the preferred weapons of choice for the majority of the attacks on councillors, office-bearers and municipal officials.
He said that the task team has recovered 46 firearms from suspects which are linked through ballistics to multiple political murder cases before the task team.
Cele said that in an effort to reduce the political killings and at the same time reduce the proliferation of firearms within the province of KZN and country at large, the task team is also investigating parallel cases, which are not related to the task team’s mandate but are linked with politically related cases with similar suspects and ballistic analysis.
“So far 85 such parallel cases have been registered. Efforts to rid the streets of illegal firearms don’t end there. Over and above these parallel cases, the team continues to conduct intelligence-driven operations, targeting unlicensed firearms, which has resulted in 86 cases being registered in this regard,” Cele said.
“The task team is conducting intelligence-driven operations targeting possession of unlicensed firearms, which has resulted in 172 cases. Over 250 unlicensed firearms have been taken off the streets through police operations.”
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