‘Political differences must never be settled through violence’: Another IFP councillor candidate dies in KZN

Two councillor candidates for the IFP have been killed in the last week. The IFP says it wants the police’s political killing task team (PKTT) to intervene in the murders of two of the party’s councillor candidates who were killed just days apart. The party on Wednesday announced that councillor Khethelo Mdluli from the King Cetshwayo District had died in hospital on Monday after being shot outside his home last week. He was a candidate for councillor in the upcoming elections. Now the party says another councillor candidate, Lucky Sokhela, from the uMshwathi Local Municipality has died after being shot outside his house on Tuesday. LIVE interactive map, latest news, multimedia and more! View Map “Two political candidates murdered within seven days is an alarming development that demands an immediate and decisive response from law-enforcement authorities,” said IFP spokesperson Mkhuleko Hlengwa. It comes days after the party’s volunteers were brutally assaulted while putting up posters at the KwaNyuswa area of KwaZulu-Natal. “They were confronted by individuals who allegedly told them that they did not want the IFP to campaign in their area,” IFP president Velenkosini Hlabisa alleged in a media briefing this week. Tense political atmosphere Hlengwa said political violence, intimidation and assassination have no place in a constitutional democracy. “Political differences must never be settled through violence, threats or murder. No political office, election, political disagreement or contest for power is worth a single human life. “The IFP therefore calls for the urgent deployment of the KwaZulu-Natal Political Task Team to establish the circumstances surrounding these killings, identify the perpetrators and establish whether political motives may have played a role.” He said the killing of councillor candidates cannot be treated as ordinary criminality. “These attacks strike at the heart of our constitutional democracy and threaten the fundamental right of South Africans to participate freely and safely in political life,” he said. Hlengwa said police must treat these cases as matters of the highest priority and to mobilise every necessary resource to ensure that those responsible are identified, arrested, and prosecuted. “The IFP further calls on the National Prosecuting Authority and all relevant law-enforcement agencies to ensure that these cases receive the attention they deserve and that there is no impunity for those who seek to use violence to influence political outcomes. “There must be zero tolerance for political violence,” he said. Calls for restraint The IFP further called on all political parties, candidates, supporters, community leaders and citizens to reject violence, intimidation and political intolerance. “We call for a political culture in which parties can compete vigorously on ideas, policies, and programmes without turning political differences into personal hostility or violence. “The IFP therefore calls on all political parties to recommit themselves to political tolerance and to ensuring that the upcoming Local Government Elections are peaceful, free, and fair.”