Durban – The DA in KwaZulu-Natal says that the Moerane Commission, which looked into political killings in the province, cost taxpayers R15 million and therefore Police Minister Bheki Cele cannot ignore it.
This was according to DA KZN leader Francois Rodgers, who was reacting to Cele’s media briefing on political killings in the province on Wednesday.
Rodgers said that they would ask advocate Marumo Moerane, who was behind the 2018 commission into political killings in KZN, to engage with the party before round-table discussions to find solutions to the killings.
The round-table discussions will be talks held between the KZN legislature party political leaders later in September.
Rodgers said the DA plans to engage with Moerane after Cele made “several bold comments”.
“The first of these is the implication that political parties themselves know who is behind the killings. If this is the case, the police minister must reveal what he knows,” Rodgers said.
“Of further concern are his flippant comments when it comes to the failure to implement all of the recommendations from the Moerane Commission, despite five years having passed since its release.
“This commission investigated the underlying causes of political killings in KZN and was conducted at a cost of R15 million to KZN taxpayers. It cannot simply be ignored by Minister Cele,” Rodgers said.
He said that until Cele addressed the cause and not the symptom of political killings, KZN would remain on knife-edge.
“The DA sincerely hopes that advocate Moerane will be in a position to engage with us ahead of our meetings with KZN’s leaders. The time has come to stand up and have hard conversations about ongoing political violence on our doorstep,” Rodgers said.
He said they remain committed to finding solutions that will bring peace to KZN.
Speaking to the Daily News on Wednesday, KZN South African Local Government Association chairperson Thami Ntuli said that they needed to find solutions to curb this scourge.
Ntuli said that the Moerane Commission was during the time of former KZN premier Willies Mchunu, yet the province had not yet seen the implementation of its recommendations.
He said that it was good that the minister acknowledged the issue of political killings, but what was different from the SAPS?
WhatsApp your views on this story to 071 485 7995.
Daily News