Police Minister Fikile Mbalula believes that some ANC leaders in KwaZulu-Natal are resorting to murder in the fight for positions and tenders and to cover up corruption.
Mbalula, speaking during an interview on eNCA’s Justice Factor show on Monday evening, said police had uncovered a ring of people responsible for political killings in the province and would soon swoop on them.
More than 40 political leaders in KwaZulu-Natal have been killed since the beginning of 2016. In addition, according to testimony at the Moerane Commission into political violence in KwaZulu-Natal, there have been about 90 killings either at, or linked to, violence at Glebelands Hostel.
Mbalula said a breakthrough in some of these murders had been made possible by a task team — made up of top officers and detectives from all over the country, which the minister appointed three months ago to investigate politically motivated murders in the province.
"We have evidence that some political leaders in [KwaZulu-Natal] are resorting to killing their opponents. Some of them do it because they cannot engage them politically, sometimes they do it out of greed or in the fight for position.
"We will bring this to an end. We will be making a number of arrests. The task team has made headway. We will not only be arresting people who pull the trigger but we will also be gunning for those who are ordering these killings," Mbalula said.
He also said he had met Hawks management for a briefing on the investigations into money laundering and the Gupta leaks.
"We are not turning a blind eye to the Gupta leaks. Investigations are ongoing and I will soon be making an announcement on these investigations. But you must appreciate that these investigations are not going to be made on the media timeline. We appreciate when journalists expose corruption but investigations will take [their] own time and will not be dictated by the media," he said.
Soon after the failed vote of no confidence vote against President Jacob Zuma in the National Assembly last week, Mbalula tweeted that a lie detector must be used to find the 36 ANC MPs who defied the party line and voted in favour of the motion or abstained.
Mbalula said he had stated this "in jest" but that he still believed the party should take action against those dissenting MPs because if nothing was done "there would be no organisational discipline" and "we could lose power".
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