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A spate of political violence has prompted the eThekwini municipality to consider overhauling its security system.A spate of political violence has prompted the eThekwini municipality to consider overhauling its security system.
Durban – The spate of political violence in KwaZulu-Natal has prompted the eThekwini municipality to consider overhauling its security system to ensure the safety of its councillors and staff.
Security concerns were raised by executive committee members during Tuesday’s meeting after Monday’s killing of an IFP member by eThekwini councillor and National Freedom Party member Mzonjani Zulu.
“Our security system at the city hall is pathetic… I don’t think they check at all for firearms. There’s no scanning device and, quite frankly, there is more security at a supermarket,” protested DA caucus leader Tex Collins.
City manager S’bu Sithole said the situation was so tense that the administration was even considering employing extreme measures such as banning the use of cellphones during council meetings.
He did not say where the budget would be found for additional security measures.
“The issue of security is a matter we are discussing with the relevant people in the security cluster.”
Sithole’s proposal was supported by deputy mayor Nomvuzo Shabalala, who said that “the communication to shoot would come from a cellphone”, and that to prevent that from happening it was necessary to restrict the use of cellphones during meetings.
Collins later said Sithole should not get paranoid about the use of cellphones during council meetings, because it was all “part and parcel of modern technology”.
“We need to tighten up security and get competent staff,” he added.
Last year, an ANC councillor was reportedly found in possession of an unlicensed firearm inside the city hall, but councillors said that, despite this, security measures had yet to be tightened.
The lax security was again in issue recently when metro police barged into the city’s administration offices and threatened to burn down the city hall if their demands for full-time jobs and training were not immediately met.
City hall security guards struggled to stop the rampaging officers from smashing the glass door to Sithole’s office.
Eventually the main door was chained by his bodyguards.
Meanwhile, in KwaMashu hostel, the home of Siya Dlamini, the IFP man who was killed outside the Ntuzuma Magistrate’s Court on Monday, the situation remained tense.
NFP members said they were leaving their homes as they feared attacks by IFP members.
The NFP secretary for the eThekwini region, Thabani Mthethwa, said his party had advised its members to leave the hostel, which was dominated by the IFP, until the situation stabilised.
“The presence of police does not make our members safe,” he said.
The Mercury established that NFP members had already started leaving the hostel in large numbers two weeks ago, after the abduction of IFP councillor Themba Xulu, who was later found killed.
“Even before Xulu’s murder, our members had been living under threat. There are many who left even before Xulu’s death,” Mthethwa said.
IFP members also said they feared for their lives after they received warnings that hit men had been deployed to the hostel to eliminate them. – The Mercury
