An ANC councillor has been murdered, while his son was burned with boiling water, and his wife and daughter were shot.
|||Escourt - An ANC councillor from Estcourt was murdered, his 11-year-old son was burnt with boiling water and his wife and five-year-old daughter were shot and injured in his home in the town on Friday.
Jimmy Lembethe, an ANC ward eight councillor in the uMtshezi (Estcourt) local municipality, answered the door and allowed a group of men into the house who said they needed help.
His 20-year-old daughter, Buhle, who was unhurt, said her father had offered his killers chairs and was prepared to listen to their problems.
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They told him they were not here to stay and one of them pulled out a gun and began firing. I fled and hid in the bedroom because I was afraid. There was nothing I could do to help.
“Our family is in deep pain. We fear that they might come back and kill us,” she said.
Police spokesman Captain Thulani Zwane said Estcourt police were investigating a murder and three attempted murders but that no arrests had been made yet.
While police say the motive for the attack is unknown, Lembethe’s ANC colleagues believe it was politically motivated.
Siphamandla Magubane, a ward three (Wembezi) councillor and close friend of Lembede, said on Sunday that he had been with Lembede on Friday at an outreach event.
“It must be politically motivated because there is no one who would have wanted him dead. Councillors are worried because we do not know who is going to be the next to die?”
Another councillor, Sulieman Breen, said: “The brutality that was used [in the shooting] is really shocking.”
ANC provincial secretary Sihle Zikalala conveyed his condolences to Lembethe’s family and said the party was concerned about the timing of the murder.
“This latest killing takes place just days after different political parties in the province met with the national Police Minister, Nathi Mthethwa, in Durban to discuss the upsurge in political killings in the province.”
Meanwhile two brothers will appear in the Umlazi Magistrate’s Court today for the murder of NFP member Mthunzi Gwala, 32, who was shot and killed last month.
Last week, General Chris Ngcobo, head of crime intelligence, and General Vinesh Moonoo, head of detectives, were deployed to KZN to assist the task team probing incidents of political violence.
The deployment came after Community Safety and Liaison MEC Willies Mchunu said the violence was fuelled by violence within and among political parties.
So far 31 people have been killed in KZN between 2010 and 2012 – five in 2010, 14 in 2011 and 12 in 2012.
- The mercury