KZN opposition parties agree political killings a challenge & must be urgently addressed

DURBAN - Opposition parties in KwaZulu-Natal are in agreement that political killings are a major challenge and need to be addressed urgently.

Eyewitness News had one-on-one interviews with party leaders vying for a spot in government after this week’s polls.

Last year, several councillors were targeted, shot and killed in separate incidents, particularly in northern KZN, which has been declared a high-risk zone for this week’s election.  

While opposition parties in the province do not see eye-to-eye on various issues they, however, hold similar views on political killings.

Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) premier candidate, Thami Ntuli, said police must be adequately trained to thoroughly probe the killings.

"You’ll find that police will bring a suspect to the court and the court will not find the evidence to be enough in order to convict, and I am of the view that it is a simple thing - equip the police with necessary investigative resources."

Meanwhile, Democratic Alliance (DA) premier candidate, Chris Pappas, said that depoliticising the police system could also be effective.

"You have a task team in the province that focuses on the killings but that task team reports to the president. The president is a politician."

Meanwhile, the EFF’s Mongezi Twala raised concern over alleged corruption within the police service.

"In the KwaZulu-Natal province, it’s easy for anyone to access a firearm, it’s also easy to get away with murder because people are not prosecuted and we know that there are certain police officials who are also involved in the killings of people."

Each of these parties also says that if they're elected into government this coming week, they will put measures in place to address the scourge of political killings.