We will find his killers - Ramaphosa to family of slain ANC councillor

14 May 2018 - 15:45
By Suthentira Govender
President Cyril Ramaphosa visited the family of former ward councillor in Msunduzi municipalty and a convener of branches Musawenkosi 'Qashane' Mchunu who was gunned down on Friday night.
Image: JACKIE CLAUSEN President Cyril Ramaphosa visited the family of former ward councillor in Msunduzi municipalty and a convener of branches Musawenkosi 'Qashane' Mchunu who was gunned down on Friday night.

ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa has promised the family of slain Pietermaritzburg councillor Musawenkosi Mqatha Mchunu that he will ensure police find his killers.

Ramaphosa‚ accompanied by high-ranking members of the governing party‚ descended on Mchunu’s home on Monday‚ where he met with his two wives and other relatives.

Ramaphosa was accompanied by national executive members Jessie Duarte and Gwede Mantashe‚ among others‚ amid rising political tension and deaths in the province. Well-known former Jacob Zuma backer Roy Moodley was close by Ramaphosa’s side.

Mchunu‚ who was aligned to Ramaphosa‚ was vocal in calling for the postponement of the Moses Mabhida regional conference and the disbandment of the regional executive committee.

Ramaphosa received a resounding welcome from local ANC members during his visit to Mchunu’s family home. ANC officials were expected to meet later on Monday with the party's provincial task team and three regions to discuss the spate of political killings which have rocked the province.

Mchunu’s nephew‚ Bongamusa Zuma‚ said the president was “very shocked” by his uncle’s murder.

”He was well aware of my uncle’s hard work for the unity of the African National Congress. Our family - including my uncle’s six children - are shocked and devastated.”

Mchunu said Ramaphosa spent more than an hour with the grieving family trying to establish what transpired. He is expected to be laid to rest on Saturday‚

Ramaphosa told media outside the Mchunu home that “it’s tough” in the province because of the murders‚ adding the party “will try” to address the situation

Mchunu was ambushed outside his KwaPata‚ Pietermaritzburg home on Friday night by unknown assailants and Sibuyiselo Dlamini‚ an IFP councillor in the Zululand district‚ came under fire in the Ulundi area. The attacks happened within 20 minutes of each other.

A day before his death‚ Mchunu called for the elective conference in the Moses Mabhida region to be postponed. Mchunu’s death comes just days after ANC activist Sifiso Cele was murdered on the south coast in front of his wife and children.

The killings come as the governing party in the province grapples with deep-rooted divisions in the province and in a region that has seen a spate of political killings. The party is expected to wrap up its series of elective conferences by the end of May.

Police spokesperson Captain Nqobile Gwala said a special task team would probe the killings.

Last week‚ ANC national executive member Edna Molewa‚ who was deployed to oversee the province‚ told the media that the ANC did not believe that the disputes raised by some branches were sufficient to warrant the postponement of the provincial elective conference.

She said disputes were normal and were similar to those raised before the party’s national elective conference last December.

Four regions have been identified by the party as problematic because of their failure to deal with infighting - eThekwini‚ Harry Gwala‚ Lower South Coast and Moses Mabhida.