The National Freedom Party on Sunday called for a state of emergency to be declared in KwaZulu-Natal, following the killing of another ANC leader in the province over the weekend.
“Declaring the State of Emergency and deploying soldiers in KZN is a must; we are at WAR,” said party spokesperson Sabelo Sigudu in a statement.
On Saturday morning, Bongani Usher Mkhize, 25, the branch chairperson of the ANC youth league in Coastal KZN TVET College’s V-Section campus in Umlazi, was shot dead in an apparent politically motivated killing. His alleged killer later handed himself over to police and was arrested.
On Sunday, Sigudu said that the NFP extended its “sincere condolences to the family, friends and comrades of Mkhize, especially the ANCYL”.
“Losing one of the young leaders is a big loss to the future of this country as we have serious challenges of leadership facing South Africa,” he added.
READ: ANCYL KZN leader shot dead, suspect arrested
The party also raised concerns over when a report by the Moerane Commission, which has been tasked with investigating political killings in the area, would be made public.
“The commission of inquiry concluded its obligation and handed the report to the premier on June 13,” said Sigudu.
Yet, he said more than a month later there appeared to be “no progress as to when the report will be released to the public”.
On the July 12, KZN legislature spokesperson Wonder Hlongwa said that various committees were working their way through the report.
“As soon as this process is complete, the next course of action will [be to] communicate to the relevant stakeholders and the general public,” said Hlongwa at the time.
Before Saturday’s killing, there had already been four other murders of political councillors in separate incidents in Zululand, Ugu and uMgungundlovu during 2018.