The Democratic Alliance says its alarmed by the increase in politically-related killings and threats in the Eastern Cape.
Shadow MEC for Safety and Security Bobby Stevenson says preliminary research undertaken by the DA shows that there's been a definite increase in the past 18 months.
Stevenson was reacting to the murder of the speaker of the Raymond Mhlaba Local Municipality, Thozama Njobe, who was shot dead in Fort Beaufort on the 17th of July and Tuesday's revelations by Nelson Mandela Bay Executive Mayor Athol Trollip that two of his Councillors had recently received death threats.
Stevenson told AlgoaFM News that he'd written to Safety and Liaison MEC Weziwe Tikana asking him to obtain more information from the police and to see what the SAPS is doing to counter-act this trend.
"I have submitted legislature questions to MEC Tikana as to how many politically motivated assaults, attempted murders and murders had been reported to the SAPS in the last four financial years," said Stevenson. "I also want to know if the SAPS keep these kinds of statistics, and if not whether they will consider doing so in the light of the current political climate. The cost of providing increasing security details for politicians is something that the province and municipalities cannot afford. Good people cannot be driven out of politics by political assassins who are hell-bent on corruption."
Stevenson said their research shows that the increasing trend of politically related killings and threats in the Eastern Cape has spilled over from Kwazulu-Natal where its been occurring for a number of years. "It is quite clear that the trend of political killings that have been taking place in KwaZulu-Natal is now spilling over into the Eastern Cape. One can expect this trend to increase as political tensions rise," said Stevenson. "The slide towards a criminal state must be stopped fully in its tracks. The SAPS must do their job."
