Joint call for lasting peace in Inchanga
THE ANC and the SA Communist Party (SACP) have strongly condemned the violence that broke out in Inchanga, west of Durban, and expressed a commitment to ensuring lasting peace in the area.
An urgent meeting was convened by ANC and SACP leaders after two comrades were killed on Sunday and Monday.
The meeting – convened by provincial executive committee member and Transport, Community Safety and Liaison MEC Mxolisi Kaunda, and SACP (Moses Mabhida province) provincial chairman James Nxumalo – condemned the killing of Nontshikelelo Blose and Xolani Ngcobo.
Apart from agreeing both parties should call for calm and urge peaceful engagement, It resolved to:
• Sustain police visibility and increase deployment in the area. • Form a peace committee. • Intensify political education. • Engage the families of the deceased to organise a joint memorial service.
• Continue to create a platform for dialogue.
• Investigate the efficiency of policing and turnaround time in responding to reported cases.
• Ensure police conduct a search and seizure operation to rid the area of illegal firearms.
• Include religious leaders in the peace-building process.
ANC provincial secretary Super Zuma stressed dialogue was the only way to resolve differences.
“The engagement between the ANC and SACP must be sustained to ensure political stability. We are committed to bringing about peace and harmony. As the leader of the alliance, the ANC calls for calm and restraint by comrades.”
SACP KwaZulu-Natal deputy chairperson Nomvuzo Shabalala, also at the meeting, appealed for calm and political maturity.
“We find it unacceptable that comrades continue to kill each other. As leaders, we intervened in the build-up to the local government elections and believe such interventions yielded positive results.
“We were surprised to learn about the deaths of the comrades. We call on all structures in the community to work towards ensuring peace and stability,” said Shabalala.
A peace committee is to meet weekly to assess the situation.