Durban’s Mayor has pleaded with political parties and voters to exercise restraint as well as “calm and tolerance” during the midweek municipal by-election to fill a crucial Council seat left vacant by the gruesome political assassination of an ANC councillor candidate in the 2021 Local Government Election.
EThekwini Municipality Mayor, Mxolisi Kaunda, who was also re-elected in a close shave Council polling by the ANC and coalition partners at the Durban ICC in November 2021, this week urged voters and residents of Ward 101 – Cato Crest – to go out in their numbers to exercise their democratic right to vote while appealing to contesting political candidates and parties for calm and tolerance during Wednesday’s by-election. The Mayor’s stance follows his meeting with Police Minister, General Bheki Cele, on the worrying issues of the safety and security and political killings of councillors and supporters within the Greater Durban Metro. Mayor Kaunda disclosed the high-level meeting to the executive committee when he wanted the green light for City Hall to pay for the funeral of Ward 103 ANC Councillor, Minenhle Calvin Mkhize, 39, a second political assassination since the killing of the Cato Crest candidate.
The outrage follows the shadowy slaying of ANC Ward Councillor Candidate, Siyabonga Mkhize, during door-to-door campaigns in the hotly-contested Ward 101 of Cato Crest and Berea, neighbouring the Highway and Durban suburbs. Mkhize, a favourite to win the seat, was gunned down in the run-up to the electioneering campaigns. His assassination followed the recent hit-man shooting of an elected ANC councillor in Hammarsdale – further exposing the ANC’s factional battles and the historic legacy of fraud and corruption at the various KZN municipalities. On Tuesday, the Mayor broke protocol to make a special appeal following the undercurrents in Cato Crest, a sprawling inner-city township-like squatter camp of informal and formal dwellings a few kilometres outside the CBD. “We are confident that the measures implemented by the Independent Electoral Commission and government will guarantee safe, free and fair elections. Ward 101 is one of the most vast and densely populated areas in eThekwini and we expect the newly-elected councillor to hit the ground running to deliver quality services to the community.”
The various political parties, ANC and DA included, had contested the vital, high-paying seat with perks, for the Ward 101 constituency of Cato Crest, Glenmore and Berea, and the outcome of the results and the winning candidate will present another acid-test for the R50-billion-a-year budget municipality. Adding their collective voices, the IFP, DA and ActionSA have reiterated their pleas for an urgent government and police intervention into the slaying of councillors following the monumental infighting at many of the newly-configured Councils in some parts of KZN municipalities since coalitions and hung Councils shadowed the controversial municipal polls. ANC spokesperson, Nhlakanipho Ntombela, said the ANC was looking into the spate of political killings in KZN. The calls for an end to political assassinations have since become louder following the recent shooting of IFP Councillor and Speaker at the AmaJuba District Municipality, Reginald Bhekumndeni Ndima. The 58-year-old councillor was struck down in a hail of bullets – quite brazenly – outside his home in Newcastle last month.
