DURBAN - AN ANC member who lodged a dispute against the party candidate in Harding’s ward 1 was shot dead on Saturday, days before the ANC sat over his dispute.
Sithembiso Dlamini’s dispute was supposed to be heard by the provincial dispute resolution committee on Monday in Durban.
His brother Sipho Dlamini told the Daily News on Sunday that the victim had received a call on Saturday morning from the ANC, informing him that he should be at the provincial office as the party would sit for his dispute.
Dlamini had challenged the election of the councillor candidate and the ANC had promised to continue looking into the dispute even after the election.
Sipho said his brother had questioned the holding of a branch meeting which elected the candidate while the demarcation process had not been completed, saying the ANC had issued an order to branches not to sit for nomination of candidates until the demarcation process had been completed.
In terms of the new demarcation, parts of ward 2 were to be moved to ward 1. Dlamini said his brother was popular among the people and was likely to be chosen as a candidate.
He said he received a call at around 10pm informing him that his brother had been shot. He said he rushed to the scene and found him hiding in the house next to where he was attacked.
“When I got there he was still alive but was badly injured. We rushed him to St Andrews Hospital in Harding, where he passed on.
“As a family we believe he was killed for political reasons. We do not think it was a coincidence that he was killed just a day before the ANC dispute resolution committee sat for his matter,” said Sipho.
An ANC member who worked closely with Dlamini said there was no doubt that the party dispute resolution committee was going to rule in their favour, adding that it was clear why the victim was killed.
The member added that Dlamini mentioned one of the suspects by name before he died.
Umziwabantu is one of the hung municipalities in the province where the ANC received 10 seats, the IFP 5, Al Jama-ah 2, the EFF 2 while ABC and the DA scored one each.
The Daily News has learnt that Ganief Hendricks was locked in a meeting with small parties to form a coalition which would be led by the IFP.
IFP spokesperson Mkhuleko Hlengwa said the party would only comment after the party leadership had taken a decision on which parties to work with.
ANC Lower South Coast regional co-ordinator Xolani Luthuli said he was still liaising with local structures to get more detail surrounding Dlamini’s death.
Police spokesperson Colonel Thembeka Mbele said a murder case was being investigated.
In 2016, an ANC candidate in the same ward, Bongani Skhosana, was shot and killed a few days before the elections.
Daily News