By Akani Nkuna
The Democratic Alliance has expressed its support for the creation of a specialised unit tasked with investigating political killings in Mpumalanga.
It said this was an acknowledgement that urgent action was needed to address the escalating violence and provide swift justice for victims and families.
DA community spokesperson Teboho Sekaledi urged community safety MEC Jackie Macie to make available all necessary resources that would help the unit “make a breakthrough on these cases”.
Mpumalanga has been plagued by high-profile political killings since 1998.
They include former Mbombela speaker Jimmy Mohlala, former spokesperson for the province’s sports department, Sammy Mpatlanyane, and Johan Ndlovu, who was the chief whip for Ehlanzeni District Municipality.
“Those political killings became known as “January murders” after Mohlala, Mpatlanyane and Ndlovu were killed respectively on the 4th, 8th and 5th of January in 2009, January 2010, and January 2011.
Their assassinations have not yet been resolved, Sekaledi said on Wednesday.
Mohlala was a whistleblower who lost his life after exposing corruption surrounding the construction of the R2.1 billion Mbombela stadium.
Mpatlanyane was killed after questioning a suspicious payment made to Mbongeni Ngema’s “Lion of the East” musical, a tribute to ANC activist Gert Sibande.
And Ndlovu’s murder was reportedly linked to a fierce political struggle for positions ahead of the 2011 local government elections.
Sekaledi, who is an MPL, said the department had committed to take several measures to expedite and finalise investigations into the political killings.
They included in-service training for members on how to investigate the different cases, experienced members mentoring junior members on how to investigate political killings, and docket age analysis to identify cases long outstanding for accountability sessions.
It would also liaise with the Forensic Science Laboratory and the health department on outstanding post-mortems report and forensic reports.
“The affected families’ hopes must not be raised for nothing this time around. Someone somewhere knows something, and we urge them to come forward and help this unit to crack the cases,” said Sekaledi.
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