Inside the former killing fields of KZN

A municipal manager (MM) at Mtubatuba Local Municipality in northern KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) says political maturity can lead to stable government, even as political killings ramp up in the province.

Mtubatuba has been in and out of administration under the KZN Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) since 2011. The municipality has a long history of misgovernance and financial mismanagement.

Mtubatuba is also known across the province for its history of political violence stretching back to the transition to democratic South Africa in 1994.

Fear and intimidation have been part of the political culture in the area, with several IFP councillors assassinated.

In 2020, The Citizen reported that councillor Thengezakhe Maphanga was killed in what is believed to be a politically motivated murder. He was shot 28 times. During the same year, another IFP leader, Fikile Ntshangase, was shot dead outside her house.

Tolerance

But Thami Xulu told The Citizen in a sit-down interview recently that over the last four years, the municipality has managed to work on some of these challenges.

“Previously, it was difficult for a mayor to complete a year in Mtubatuba, but now the current mayor, Cllr Mthethwa, is finishing his fourth year as a mayor. It was also difficult for the municipal manager to last a year in Mtubatuba, but that is now history because I am also completing my fourth year.

“All of this is through co-operation and maturity from our leaders; that is why today we are stable as a municipality,” he said.

The Citizen’s visit to the area was part of its travels across the length and breadth of the country to explore the lives, struggles, successes and frustrations of everyday South Africans ahead of this year’s local government elections.

A stable coalition

Mtubatuba is governed by the IFP, ACDP and DA. However, the IFP occupies the crucial positions of mayor and Speaker of Council.

Xulu said all coalition members have found a way to work together harmoniously.

“There is stability, and they are able to understand each other,” said Xulu.

He said there have been no notable instances of political intolerance since the current administration took over.

“From 2022 to date, we do not have any issues of political violence in Mtubatuba. Even in by-elections, you can see the ANC and the IFP standing together.

“Since I became MM, we have had two by-elections and at no stage were there fights among our leaders,” he said.

Political killings on the rise

This lesson in tolerance is one that municipalities across the province should heed amid a resurgence in political killings.

Recently, several IFP regional leaders and councillors have been killed in the province; some of them were campaigning ahead of the November elections.

Councillor Kethelo Mdluli from the uMlalazi Local Municipality was gunned down several days ago in front of his children. He later died in hospital.

A day after Mdluli’s death, another councillor candidate, Lucky Sokhele, was shot outside his home. He was from the uMshwathi Local Municipality.

“The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) is calling for the immediate deployment of the KwaZulu-Natal Political Task Team to investigate, with the utmost urgency, the alarming and deeply disturbing murders of two IFP councillor candidates in separate incidents in KwaZulu-Natal within the space of just seven days,” said IFP spokesperson Mkhuleko Hlengwa.

ANC could win nothing

Political tensions in the province have been heightened by the introduction of former President Jacob Zuma’s MK party and a decline in support for the once-mighty ANC.

The ANC received just 17% in the last general election, held in 2024.

An elections analyst on Wednesday warned that the ANC risks not winning any wards in eThekwini in November.

“On my model, the ANC might win wards only in 10 KZN municipalities.

“Once the candidate lists are released and we see who is contesting where, I will have a better model – except that it might be hard to account for SACP support.

“We all know that the MK Party has hammered the ANC in KZN, but the effect could be dramatic in ward results,” Michael Atkins predicted.

He said the assessment comes from the 2024 election results, shown on the 2026 wards, with some adjustments for voter turnout, smaller parties, and independent candidates.

“Obviously, there are caveats – like any local dynamics, candidate selections, or problems in the ranks of MK.”

Rate collection and service delivery

Away from the politics of ruling, many residents just want to feel safe and have working services like water and electricity. Municipalities also battle with funding.

Xulu said rate collection is a problem for Mtubatuba since the municipality only collects rates from three wards out of 23.

“We rely mostly on grants for our survival; almost 90% of our budget comes from government, both provincial and national, because there are only a few wards where we are able to collect.”

He said the other challenge to rate collection is unemployment. Government is the main employer in Mtubatuba.

“We are working hard as a municipality to try and attract investors,” he said.

Xulu said the municipality has several plans to grow Mtubatuba’s local economy, including the construction of a shopping centre and what he described as a truck shop.

“We are a big municipality in the district, but we do not have a hospital in Mtubatuba; we only have clinics,” he added.

Xulu said the municipal council recently managed to source land for a hospital.