Durban - The SACP in KwaZulu-Natal has raised concern about the rise in political killings in the province.
The party expressed its concern about the killings, adding they were negatively affecting communities and leading to funds having to be spent on private security to protect political figures.
“We are concerned by the increasing spate of what appears to be political killings in KwaZulu-Natal, more especially in regions such as eThekwini, Moses Mabhida and eMalahleni,” said SACP second provincial secretary Bheki Mbatha on Wednesday.
He warned that failure to act swiftly would see more money getting used for security purposes as opposed to service delivery.
“What we are seeing now is that in many municipalities, a good portion of their budget is spent on the hiring of security companies and bodyguards and this means that some projects that should be impacting positively on people’s lives are simply not taking off,” Mbatha added.
He also questioned the Crime Intelligence division within the SAPS.
“What we need here is a strong and efficient intelligence gathering division that will not only help in arresting the hitmen, but will also ensure that the handlers of the hitmen are also arrested and prosecuted,” Mbatha added.
He expressed the SACP’s belief that if a specialised team was assembled and reported directly to Minister Cele, the results would be visible quickly.
“What we are observing now is that there is almost a sense of accepting the killings as part of normal crime where there is very little energy to tackle it,” Mbatha stressed.