Inquiry finds ‘never-ending’ wave of political killings in South African province

In one of South Africa’s biggest provinces, politics and crime have become so intertwined in a violent battle for financial resources that they have triggered a seemingly “never-ending” wave of political murders, an inquiry has found.

The government-appointed inquiry has warned that the political killings are a “serious pathology” that could easily spread to other regions of South Africa where the same root causes of corruption and impunity are present.

The inquiry was established by the government of KwaZulu-Natal province, where more than 80 people have been killed in politically linked murders in the past seven years, including dozens of murders in the past two years alone.

The province, known as the homeland of the Zulu people, is the second-most populous in the country and a crucial stronghold for the ruling African National Congress.

The province has fallen into the grip of a “culture of violence” as politicians fight for control of lucrative government tenders, the inquiry found in its 425-page final report.

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“There was overwhelming evidence from the majority of witnesses that access to resources through the tender system is the main root cause of the murder of politicians,” it said. “There was evidence that criminal elements are recruited by politicians to achieve political ends, resulting in a complex matrix of criminal and political associations that also lead to the murder of politicians.”

The report, issued after more than a year of research and public hearings by the inquiry, concluded that political factions are using “underhanded tactics” to manipulate the meetings of political parties and to marginalize their rivals. “This often results in violent attacks and retaliatory attacks, which have been at the core of a number of murders of politicians,” it said.

The inquiry heard evidence of politicians being gunned down in their driveways, or shot in crowded public places with dozens of witnesses, or killed when their cars were ambushed and sprayed with bullets. Assassins can be hired for the equivalent of a few hundred dollars, experts say. Few of the murders have been solved and few of the perpetrators have been jailed.

The culture of violence may have begun in colonial and apartheid times, but it continues unabated today, the report said. The rhetoric of many politicians has incited murder and other violence, it said.

The apparently ceaseless wave of murders is “a symptom of a serious pathology in the province’s body politic,” it said. “Regrettably, there does not seem to be any reduction in the rate of the murder of politicians in KZN. There is still something rotten in the province of KwaZulu-Natal.”

The inquiry focused on local councils, where most of the murders have occurred. At a time of high unemployment and widespread poverty, there is “fierce competition” for council positions because they allow access to tenders and other financial resources, and this leads to “corruption, crass materialism and conspicuous consumption,” the report said.

This, in turn, has tainted and weakened the entire criminal justice system, including the police and intelligence agencies, it said. Local police have become so ineffective that politicians often opted to hire private investigators or out-of-province police after murders occur, the report said.

But while the murders are most frequent in KZN province, these killings have had “similarities” with murders in other regions of South Africa, the inquiry found. It recommended that its report be referred to the cabinet of President Cyril Ramaphosa so that the issues can be tackled nationally.

“The underlying causes of the murder of politicians are potentially present in all provinces. … The culture and network of patronage and impunity does not stop provincially but stretches nationally.”

The inquiry also recommended a series of measures to strengthen the police, the public service, political parties and the system of tenders for public contracts.

Vanessa Burger, a KZN community activist and expert on political violence who testified to the inquiry, said the inquiry has probably underestimated the extent of the political violence.

The police have been “at great pains” to minimize the official record of political killings “because it reflects extremely negatively on the ruling party, especially ahead of the 2019 elections,” Ms. Burger told The Globe and Mail after the inquiry’s report was released.

“Crimes of this nature on this incredible scale would never have been possible without the overwhelming greed and culture of impunity that dominate our political landscape.”