INLSA
eThekwini mayor James Nxumalo (in the brown coat) visited the KwaMashu hostel area with a contingent of police yesterday and went to the crime scenes where a policeman, a community member and a councillor were killed at the weekend.
More than 100 police officers from across the country have been sent to restore order in the community of KwaMashu, following the murders of a councillor, Themba Xulu, a policeman and a community member at the weekend.
eThekwini mayor James Nxumalo visited the area yesterday to speak to residents about crime in the community.
He met the Tactical Response Team and the Public Order Policing Unit before being escorted to the sites of the murders by bodyguards and police.
Celiwe Shezi was shot and killed on Saturday during an IFP march protesting against Xulu’s kidnapping. The next day, a policeman, who has yet to be named, was shot dead close by.
The killings led to Community Safety and Liaison MEC Willies Mchunu calling an emergency meeting of police officials and the IFP and NFP leaders on Sunday.
Witnesses said gunmen, posing as police officers, handcuffed Xulu at his house and forced him into their vehicle on Friday.
On Sunday his bullet riddled corpse was found in a sugarcane field near Inanda.
Nxumalo said: “This area [KwaMashu] is a hotspot for|political intolerance and crime in Durban.
“People are mugged and murdered here. Women and children are being raped. We hope that the presence of more police will help to restore order,” he told the community.
The mayor said providing proper housing would help to deal with lawlessness and restore family values.
During the recent violence, residents had overturned the rubbish skips to barricade the roads. Nxumalo’s convoy of vehicles had to negotiate garbage scattered on the muddy roads.
Members of the community watched the mayor from their old hostel buildings and shacks of corrugated iron, plastic and mud. Between these had sprung up some new and colourful flats – built by the municipality as part of the city’s housing programme.
Community policing forum member Makhosi Ndebele said Nxumalo had visited the area last month and promised to work with the community policing forum to fight crime.
“We are still waiting for the date of the next meeting with him. Murder is high in this area. Rape is also high although it has slightly decreased,” Ndebele said.
Commenting on the violence, KwaZulu-Natal violence monitor Mary de Haas said the situation was unlikely to escalate into full-scale political violence in the province – reminiscent of the IFP/ANC clashes of the 1990s.
“We will continue to see sporadic incidents. Life in the hostels has been the same since 1994.
“There were always political clashes. The difference now is that the clashes are between the IFP and NFP,” she said.
De Haas said the government should show perpetrators that “crime does not pay”.
“The hostel system is a violent system. A men’s hostel is like a military barracks. Most of these hostels are dismal and lead to people being intimidated,” she said.
Cope MP Graham McIntosh said Xulu’s murder showed political intolerance. “This barbaric act doesn’t have a place in society and we should encourage people to report those who are suspected to have had a hand in Xulu’s murder,” said McIntosh.
Police spokesman Colonel Jay Naicker said KZN police commissioner Mmamonye Ngobeni had reached an agreement with the NFP and IFP to resolve political tension.
Mchunu has also made an appeal to political parties to cooperate with the police.
“I want to call on people to refrain from taking the law into their own hands as this will deepen divisions and heighten tensions,” he said.
