NEC ‘must restore peace to Inchanga’
THE ANC’s national executive committee would have to urgently visit Inchanga in Durban to address the outstanding issues of the party’s nomination process for the local government elections in order to restore peace in the volatile area, says former e Thekwini mayor James Nxumalo.
He was forced this week to abandon the SACP central executive committee meeting held in Johannesburg in order to attend to the situation in his home village.
Nxumalo, who is chairman of the SACP in Kwa-Zulu-Natal, said it was a must that NEC members come to Inchanga because the area was seriously lacking in stability.
“They should come because Inchanga does not have stability. You can never guarantee there is peace because violence keeps resurfacing,” he said.
Nxumalo and his nephew, Malombo Nxumalo, who is the independent councillor for ward 4, visited families of murdered SACP activist Nonhlanhla Ngcobo, 39.
Ngcobo’s body was found on the side of a road on Tuesday morning. She had been shot in the head. Locals believe that her murder, which they thought happened on Monday, was politically motivated.
Nxumalo also visited the family of another SACP member, Lungisani Mchunu, who was ambushed in his home in what looked like a revenge attack.
Mchunu’s death happened a day after two cousins, Ndumiso Shozi, 27, and Thobani Shozi, 25, who are family members of ANC proportional representative councillor Boy Shozi, were gunned down.
NEC members Zweli Mkhize and Naledi Pandor last month visited various wards in KZN to address the issue of nominations.
However, they did not go to Inchanga despite local SACP members saying that prior to the elections they had written letters to President Jacob Zuma and ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe complaining about being sidelined from the nominations.
“After comrades had filed complaints they held a meeting with the NEC in Durban, and they were promised that the NEC would come to the area to help people get membership cards so that they could participate in the nominations, but that never happened. This led to an independent candidate because people felt that they were being deprived of the right to vote the way they wanted,” said Nxumalo.
ANC provincial executive committee member Nomagugu Simelane-Zulu said the NEC had not gone to Inchanga because no complaints about nomination had been received from the area.