JOHANNESBURG, S. Africa: July 1 (Xinhua) — The African National Congress (ANC) Youth League on Sunday called for an investigation into political killings which are on the rise in South Africa.
The league made the appeal following the murder of Wandile Mkhize, the ANC chief whip at Ugu District municipality in KwaZulu- Natal province. Mkhize, also a former ANC Youth League leader in the area, was murdered at his home in Port Shepstone on the KwaZulu-Natal south coast shortly after arriving home Saturday night from the ANC’s national policy conference in Midrand near Johannesburg.
The attack also critically wounded a friend of Mkhize. The Youth League said it was angered and saddened by Mkhize’s murder. The incident highlighted an increase in political killings, particularly in KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga provinces, the league said.
“The African National Congress Youth League has learnt with sadness of the passing away of a fearless revolutionary and a disciplined young lion, comrade Wandile Mkhize,” spokeswoman Khusela Sangoni-Khawe said in a statement.
Mkhize had “a sharp and probing intellect, with an appetite to continuously engage even those he disagreed with”, Sangoni-Khawe said. Meanwhile, the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal called Mhize’s death “a great tragedy” and a loss not only to his family but also to the entire movement.
“The ANC strongly condemns this brutal act and urges the law enforcement agencies to do everything possible to bring those responsible to book,”spokesman Bongani Mthembu said.
According to latest figures from the South African Congress of Trade Unions (COSATU), political killings in Mpumalanga alone have claimed more than 10 lives since 2006 while the victims were all whistleblowers who reported corruption in the province. (Xinhua)
