Censorbugbear reports...

 

ANC’s Zuma allies shot dead; threats to kill Lekota of COPE in EC, Inkatha accused of injuring ANC ally in KwaZuluNatal…

January 31 2009 - Following Jacob Zuma's accession to the ANC leadership in 2007 and ex-president Thabo Mbeki's resignation in 2008, those Mbeki-supporters who failed to acknowledge defeat at the Polokwane (2007) conference broke away from the ANC to form the Congress of the People. (COPE). The two factions are only linked tribally or emotionally to the leaders of both groups, because both parties have identical policies – with the Inkatha Freedom Party caught firmly in the middle of this battle. The two ANC-factions are increasingly at each other’s throats, with literal warfare erupting in many black communities across South Africa which have for decades, lived together peacefully. The main battleground seems to centre in KwaZulu-Natal and specific township regions in the Gauteng area which have large concentrations of the three political groups.Now there are political assassinations, threats against local leaders’ lives, constant attempts to take over local regions through the use of violence and intimidation, mostly through witchcraft-linked violence. 

See “tribal healers increasingly powerful in SA politics” here Below we record a summary of these events as they occur.

14 ANC members killed in previous election:

ANC’s KZN-secretary Senzo Mchunu says today that in the last election, 14 ANC members were killed during the election campaign... we are very, very worried about loss of life," said KwaZulu-Natal secretary Senzo Mchunu. In the most recent political assassination, the Zulu traditional leader Inkosi Mbongeleni Zondi was travelling along Umlazi's Stimela Avenue last week when his car was sprayed with AK-47 bullets. http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/Politics/0,,2-7-12_2462206,00.html

ANC’s Bongani Ngcobo injured, Sthembiso Cele and Inkosi Mbongeleni Zondi killed:

31/01/2009 Durban – In Nongoma, KZN the chairman of the Nongoma sub-region Bongani Ngcobo was shot allegedly by an Inkatha Freedom Party councillor in full view of his colleagues at the ANC offices in that area. He was recovering in Nongoma Hospital after being shot in his both legs.  Two days earlier, addressing at the party's provincial headquarters, Mchunu had also just condemned the Zondi killing as well at the murder of ANC Youth League member Sthembiso Cele. He revealed that there had also been "assassination" attempts on another member Inkosi Daba Mthembu. "Currently there is a serious threat on his life." "We view the [Zondi and Cele] assassinations and the attack [on Mthembu] as an attempt to cripple the ANC and instil fear in our supporters as we head into the crucial elections," said Mchunu.

IFP 'disrupted event'
Mchunu accused the Inkatha Freedom Party of attempting to disrupt preparations for the event.
"Two days ago, they [ANC members] were confronted by IFP people... it was a clear campaign to disturb what the ANC is doing."

• He said he hoped the IFP would concentrate on its own problems rather than interfere with the ANC.
  "They [the IFP] have a clean record of not being disturbed by the ANC. The ANC members who have been sent there to mobilise people are civil, decent people who will not provoke anyone…’

Zondi's state funeral took place on January 31 at Bhambatha Secondary School in Ngome and was addressed by the ANC president, Jacob Zuma. http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/Politics/0,,2-7-12_2459653,00.html

'I want to shoot Lekota'
  Jan 26 2009 - Norman Silke, Die Burger Port Elizabeth - "Where's my AK47? I want to shoot Lekota!" The threat against Mosioua “Terror” Lekota, leader of the breakaway Congress of the People, (COPE) party, came as 10,000 ANC members gathered in Port Elizabeth on Saturday for a hastily-convened meeting. Many of them had been bused to the Dan Qeqe Stadium in Zwide. The meeting, to explain the ANC's election manifesto to locals, took place barely 10km away from where Cope launched its election manifesto at the same time. High-ranking African National Congress members who attended the gathering included Fikile Mbalula (ANC election head), Zwelinzima Vavi (Cosatu's secretary-general) and Tokyo Sexwale (businessman and prominent ANC member). Large groups of singing youths walked through the streets to the stadium, carrying placards and ANC flags. The songs chided Lekota as a liar, someone who had run away from the ANC and a person who did not keep his promises. Mbalula said the Eastern Cape was only interested in the ANC and not in any other party. He asked the crowd to contribute to the party's election campaign by firstly going from door to door to canvas for votes, and secondly to vote. Vavi said groups had broken away from the ANC in the past, but later on always found themselves in a political dead-end. Vavi said of the Cope leaders who were now complaining about poor service delivery in the province: "People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones." The Cosatu leader, Vavi, said the province's previous premier, Nosimo Balindlela - now one of Cope's leaders - was removed from her position by the ANC because delivery of free electricity and water-reticulation in the Eastern Cape had been so poor under her leadership. He added: "Now she's someone who regularly complains about poor service delivery." Vavi said the Cope leaders broke away from the ANC because they had lost the election at the party conference in 2007. Sexwale said the Cope leaders were embittered and were disrespecting former president Nelson Mandela by forming another party. Sexwale also said Cope had spread rumours that Mandela was unhappy by what was happening in the ANC. In addition, he accused Cope of witchcraft because they were using elderly women in their election campaign. http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/Politics/0,,2-7-12_2458905,00.html

ANCYL chairman Sthembiso Cele assassinated at Umgababa home, KZN

January 23 2009 – Durban The ANC Youth League chairman in KwaZulu-Natal's Umgababa region outside Durban was shot dead on Friday morning, police said. Superintendent Danelia Veldhuizen said Sthembiso Cele, 27, was shot at his house on Thursday evening and he died at Scottburgh Hospital on Friday. "He was sitting in his lounge when he was shot through the window. The motive is not known at this stage and no one has been arrested." African National Congress Youth League provincial leader Mxolisi Kaunda said his organisation was shocked by Cele's murder. "We are worried because this is happening at a time when we are heading for the elections. This is definitely one of the things that will not unite people." He said he did not want to speculate on the reasons why he was killed, adding that they would work with the police to ensure that the perpetrators were brought to book. Another ANC member, Inkosi Mbongeleni Zondi was shot dead in Durban's Umlazi Township on Thursday morning. Zondi's killers were also still at large.
http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_2457994,00.html

ZUMA’S GOOD FRIEND IKOSI ZONDI ASSASSINATED IN UMLAZI KZN

 22/01/2009 Durban - Ikosi Mbongeleni Zondi, the grandson of a famous Zulu King and a strong ally of ANC president Jacob Zuma, was shot dead in Durban's Umlazi township on Thursday morning.  Zondi, a direct grandson of Bhambatha Zondi of the famous Bhambatha Rebellion 88 years ago – which political observers say was the forerunner to the fight against apartheid after 1948 --  was travelling along Stimela Avenue when his car was sprayed with AK-47 bullets. Police collected 50 spent AK47 cartridges.  see ANC Shocked high profile politicians, including Safety MEC Bheki Cele, and the Durban Mayor Obed Mlaba, visited the scene. Police spokesperson Jay Naicker said the incident took place at 07:00. The victim was overtaken by a car which had three occupants. Two of them opened fire and they were using AK47s. We appeal to anyone who saw the incident unfolding to come forward and help us with the investigation," said Naicker. It is believed that Zondi, who lived in Msinga in the Midlands, was visiting his fiancé in Umlazi when he was shot. Zondi recently hosted Zuma at his home where he threw a party for the ANC president. Picture by SAPS.co.za

PIETERSBURG/POLOKWANE ANC-LEADERS ATTACKED, HOUSE TORCHED OVER CHOLERA DEATHS

In Pietersburg/Polokwane on January 22, an ANC-municipal councillor's house was torched. It's believed this is a 'cholera-related protest against the leadership' with the tenth cholera death  recorded in Limpopo province since November last year. Police superintendent Mohale Ramatseba said  the unnamed councillor's house in the Greater Tubatse Municipality was burnt down on Monday. Monday's incident followed another attack on another ANC-leader, local mayor Ralepane Mamekoa on Saturday, while he was attending a mass-funeral for cholera victims. His car was hit with stones and the windscreen and all other windows broken. Community spokesMAN Fanny Matsunyane confirmed that the attack on the mayor was due to the fact that people blamed the poor water-reticulation service  for the cholera epidemic. Matsunyane claims that the municipality ‘s clean-water tanks, provided to stop people from drinking from the river, quickly run dry. "And the community is worried that people who are admitted for cholera are dying and that the municipality is not communicating their plans to assist in stopping this," he said. The municipality provides tanks with clean water to stop people from going to streams, and he fears that once the clean-water supply is depleted, people go back to using the cholera-infested river water.

1980/1 CHOLERA OUTBREAKS IN KZN AND BOPHUTHATSWANA

NEWSCLIPPING, RAND DAILY MAIL - This is an experience I have personally also observed during the 190/1 cholera epidemics I reported on for the Rand Daily Mail newspaper. Two cholera outbreaks occurred simultaneously in Northern KwaZuluNatal and in the then-homeland of Bophuthatswana near Pretoria. See the report from the Rand Daily Mail published at the time, reporting that the SA Army ‘s quick action had saved many thousands of lives.  Both regions were sealed off by the SA Army medical service and a large number of rehydration tent sites set up at  Catholic mission station hospitals and government clinics to control the outbreaks.  It was found that both rivers feeding into these regions were infected with cholera.  Hundreds of water-tankers from the military were sent out, driven by  young soldiers who were taking clean water around to all these communities. They were invariably greeted with ululuing and great cheer, and the free water-purification tablets and packets which were handed out during the military’s  cholera-prevention meetings were all snapped up by the thousands. As soon as the water-tanks emptied out and fresh supplies didn’t arrive in time, however, back they all went, into the river, swimming in it, drinking from it, and defacating in it. Teams of soldiers were constantly searching the river banks, trying to keep the kids from swimming in the rivers. And the water-purification packets we noticed were sold as ‘cholera-medicine’ at roadside stands and local spaza shops. Combating cholera in South Africa is a major undertaking – and the Limpopo provincial health department is barely coping. Without the help of the International Red Cross, which has also set up several clean water-reticulation sites, the epidemic could be a lot, lot worse…

This week the local municipality, which manages water supply to the entire Tubatse region,  said that they had budgeted R18m (about $1million) to combat the epidemic. This money has to come from their very small taxpayer-base. The central government still has not sent any cash to help them out with their extra expenses. Spokesman Sizwe Yende also said they didn't know that the clean-water tanks' supplies were depleted so quickly -- promising that they 'would investigate and supply more water wherever there was a need'. http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_2457295,00.html

Nelspruit ANC-councillor Jimmy Mohlala gunned down

On January 5 the leading ANC-councillor of the Nelspruit/Mbombela municipality, Jimmy Mohlala, was gunned down execution-style at 8pm in front of his home  in KaNyamazane township. He had just arrived at the front door with son Sifiso (16) when three armed men rushed towards them. While the father and son tried to flee into their home, the dad was shot dead.The son also was shot in a leg. Police superintendent Abie Khoabane said a special task force has been put together in nearby Middelburg to investigate the murder.

Two leading ANC-linked businessmen attacked in Welkom:

That same day in Welkom, in the Free State, two leading ANC-members, local businessmen Patrick Khumalo and Martin Matsela were also attacked. The two businessmen lived only a few houses apart in Jan Cilliers Park. Police say these were ‘just ordinary robberies,’ but local ANC-members doubt this. Matsela, who owned a funeral home and other businesses in the town, was shot dead on the steps of his home. Only an hour later, businessman Patrick Khumalo and his wife Lucy were also attacked – right under the noses of the police, investigating the first murder just houses away. Khumalo was accosted by three armed men, but he managed to set off his car alarm and the men fled with his car keys, about $5,000 in cash and the couple's cellphones.

ANC-breakaway party COPE meetings attacked in Mpumalanga

Meanwhile the African National Congress members are also increasingly aggressive towards their breakaway faction which has formed the Congress of the People party (COPE). They issue death-threats and disrupt public meetings by COPE. ANC members aggressively invaded two COPE meetings in Mpumalanga, causing violence and aggression between the two groups.  see

Many of these people have lived peacefully together in the same communities for decades – yet they are now at each others throats, and things are getting nastier by the minute.

At two weekend meetings, COPE-members were trapped inside the community hall for hours near the Samora Machel monument in Mbuzini, near the Swaziland border.And a few hours later, another COPE-meeting was disrupted at Acornhoek near Bosbokrand. COPE's provincial deputy leader John Nkuna and his followers were trapped inside the hall while a large group of people with ANC-shirts were holding a violent protest demonstration at the front door. The few local cops called in to restore order struggled to do so and had to call in for reinforcements from nearby Komatipoort and Tonga.Police superintendent Abie Khoabane claimed that the protestors probably had been 'drunk', however no-one was arrested. Apparently the ANC-members encircle the meeting venues and then proceed to sing and dance so aggressively and loudly that the meeting cannot take place. ANC-spokesman Paul Mbenyane said they weren't going to waste their time investigating these 'alleged incidents' because nobody could prove the people involved had even been ANC-members. Similar disruptions -- in very much the same modus operandus -- also occurred at a COPE meeting on December 24 in Alexandra near Johannesburg.

COPE-convenor Mzonke Mayekiso gets death-threats:
COPE convenor in Alexandra Mzonke Mayekiso said they were preparing for the meeting when they were confronted by a group of ANC supporters, people who knew personally.The wore ANC T-shirts, insulted party leaders, vandalised his car and threatened his life. "They were wearing ANC T-shirts and these are my former comrades...I know all of them," said Mayekiso, adding that police intervened and the meeting continued despite the protest. Earlier, ANC president Jacob Zuma called for members not to disrupt Cope meetings after a number of similar reported incidences in various provinces.

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http://www.news24.com/Beeld/Suid-Afrika/0,,3-975_2448565,00.html

http://www.congressofthepeople.org.za/news.php

http://www.anc.org.za/