The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Mpumalanga is pleased to know that the Provincial Department of Community Safety, Security & Liaison has resolved to establish a unit that will investigate the infamous high profile political killings in the province.
Mpumalanga has experienced a number of high-profile political killings since 1998; these include the assassinations of former Mbombela Speaker, Jimmy Mohlala; Sammy Mpatlanyane, the former head of communications of Mpumalanga’s department of Sports, Culture and Recreation; and Johan Ndlovu, the former Chief Whip for Ehlanzeni District Municipality.
Mohlala was a whistleblower on the corruption around the construction of the R2.1 billion Mbombela Stadium; while Mpatlanyane was killed after he allegedly questioned a payment that was made to Mbongeni Ngema’s “Lion of the East” musical which was meant to honour ANC activist, Gert Sibande. Ndlovu was allegedly murdered because of a political battle being waged for positions ahead of the 2011 local government elections. 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. The province has experienced many more political assassinations after Mohlala, Mpatlanyane and Ndlovu.
The Democratic Alliance hopes that these cases will finally be solved after it was mentioned in a recent document from the Provincial Department of Community Safety, Security & Liaison, that they have established the Provincial Serious and Violent Crime Unit to investigate the Political Killings. The document also mentions that there are members allocated to each of the three Districts of the province to ensure speedy investigation and finalisation of these political killings.
The department mentioned that it will take the following strategies to expedite and finalise investigations on the political killings:
- In-service training given to members on how to investigate the different cases.
- Experienced members will mentor junior members on how to investigate political killings.
- Liaising with Forensic Science Laboratory and the Department of Health for outstanding Post-Mortems report and Forensic Reports.
- Docket age analysis will be done to identify cases long outstanding for accountability sessions.
We urge the Provincial Department of Community Safety, Security & Liaison and its MEC, Jackie Macie to make available all necessary resources that will help the Serious and Violent Crime Unit to make a breakthrough on these cases. The DA is hopeful that these political killings will finally be solved so that the families of Mohlala, Mpatlanyane, Ndlovu and the others can find closure and move on with their lives. 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.