Are taxi hitmen behind political killings?

Police were investigating the possibility that taxi hitmen were behind a spate of political killings in KZN, Police Minister Nathi Nhleko has said.

Cape Town - Police were investigating the possibility that taxi hitmen were behind a spate of political killings in KwaZulu-Natal in the months leading up to next week’s local government elections, Police Minister Nathi Nhleko has said.

On Wednesday, Nhleko addressed journalists on the work of the task team established to probe “so-called political killings”. He said investigations were continuing and several suspects had been arrested.

The task team in KwaZulu-Natal was comprised of seven detectives, five members of police crime intelligence, four members of the Hawks and 11 members who worked with the province’s taxi violence task team.

“We felt it was important to pull them into the equation precisely because you may find it’s possible that one particular case has got similar kinds of suspects in one form or another, precisely because in most of these cases you’ll find hitmen are being used... and some of these hitmen are operating in the taxi industry,” Nhleko said.

Nhleko said although the majority of the cases being investigated were in KwaZulu-Natal, police were investigating at least four murders in other provinces.

“In Gauteng we stand at one particular case that arose on June 19 at the Pretoria showgrounds where there was an ANC media briefing around a mayoral candidate.” He was referring to an ANC member who was shot dead while he was waiting for the ruling party to announce Thoko Didiza as the mayoral candidate for Tshwane. One man was arrested and released on bail. The case will be heard again on August 11.

Murder cases were also being investigated in Doornkop in the North West, in Tsolo in the Eastern Cape and in Salvation in Mpumalanga.

The figures do not include politically-related incidents reported this week.

In KwaZulu-Natal, 25 cases were being investigated, said Nhleko. These included 14 cases of murder and attempted murder, two cases of arson, two of public violence, two of assault with the intent to do grievous bodily harm (assault GBH), one case of malicious damage to property, and one of culpable homicide.

“We made seven arrests for murder and for attempted murder we made two arrests. For the possession of unlicensed firearms, we made three arrests and for public violence eight arrests, for assault GBH and pointing of a firearm, we made three arrests.”

Nhleko said police would be deployed throughout the country in the run-up to and after next Wednesday’s municipal polls to maintain law and order.

“We are quite committed as the SAPS in ensuring that we have peaceful elections in this country. We have successfully done that over the years, so we want to ensure that even in this particular local government elections we experience the same as South Africans.”

At least a dozen people are suspected to have been killed in politically-motivated murders across the country. Nhleko could not provide an exact figure of the number of people killed in incidents related to the political contestation before the August 3 polls.

In the latest incident, an ANC candidate for councillor in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro in Port Elizabeth, 35-year-old Nceba Dywili, was gunned down by two unknown suspects on Tuesday night.

Nhleko also said the police would provide security to ballot boxes for the polls.

He said police would continue to provide the service of transporting and securing ballot boxes and any other election-related material.

The Independent Electoral Commission said this month it will print 74 million ballot papers.

Nhleko said there was no need to press the panic buttons because the police have always been transporting ballot boxes to warehouses and venues for the elections.

It will be no different this time and they will ensure none of the boxes go missing or are interfered with.

He said it was the duty of the police to provide a high-level of security to the election material. “In the transportation of ballot boxes, it has been standard procedure that we have to secure the election material, not only the warehousing, but the ballot papers.” he said.

Nhleko said the police had put measures in place to quell any flare-ups of election-related violence.

Political Bureau and ANA