Task team to probe murder of ACDP councillor

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KwaZulu-Natal’s political killings task team will be investigating the murder of African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) councillor John Myaka, who was gunned down while conducting a sermon in a church outside Empangeni on Tuesday afternoon. 

Lirandzu Themba, the spokesperson for police minister Bheki Cele, told the Mail & Guardian that Myaka’s murder had been designated to the specialised team. 

Described by his party as a “man of peace”, Myaka was serving in a proportional representative role at uMhlathuze Local Municipality, and was also a pastor.   

“Councillor John Myaka was known to be a peaceful man of God who had no known enemies. He was not involved in politics until he was recruited by the provincial leader, MPL Bishop Eric Manqele to join the ACDP,” said the party’s deputy president, Wayne Thring, on Wednesday. 

According to the ACDP, 58-year-old Myaka was conducting a church service when he was confronted by several armed men and shot multiple times, in front of parishioners. 

At the time of writing, no arrests had been made and the motive for the killing was unknown. 

KwaZulu-Natal is notorious for political violence and murders.  

In late 2016, then premier Willies Mchunu established the Moerane Commission, tasked with investigating the underlying causes of political violence in the province, since 2011. 

It heard testimony from over 60 witnesses and ran for a year.

While the Inkatha Freedom Party and National Freedom Party have experienced political killings in their ranks, the ANC, in particular, has suffered a slew of such over the past decade, primarily the result of intra-party violence and greed, according to the findings of the commission. 

But the commission also found that political killings are often difficult to identify, given that myriad councillors have links to — or own — taxis, an industry that is itself racked with violence. Revenge also plays a role in many of the killings described as political, the commission was told by police.   

After he resigned as premier, Mchunu and retired ANC MPL Sipho Gcabashe were tasked by the ANC in the province to act as mediators between opposing factions within the governing party, to stem political violence there. 

The ACDP, as a minority party, however, is not seen as a threat to governance in the province or the uMhlathuze region. 

The city of uMhlathuze described Myaka as a “respected pastor”, “esteemed” councillor and someone who “resisted any form of corruption”. 

“He played an integral role as part of the coalition government led by the Inkatha Freedom Party. His dedication, commitment and unwavering service to the community will be deeply missed.”

Besides the dedicated task team, an inter-ministerial committee on political killings in the province was established in 2018, at the behest of President Cyril Ramaphosa. The players here include the State Security Agency, National Prosecuting Authority, department of defence and department of justice and corrections. 

At the meeting of that committee last year, Police Minister Bheki Cele said “targeted hits on political players and traditional leaders” persisted.

Since 2018, the task team has investigated 258 dockets in which 289 arrests were made on politically related cases. The emphasis has been on prosecutorial-led investigations. 

“This is 32 more dockets compared to the last update in June 2021; with a 54% detection rate and 33% court rate and an 83% conviction rate. Most of the new cases were reported before, during and after the local government elections in November 2021,” said Cele at the time. 

After Myaka’s murder, the KwaZulu-Natal cooperative governance MEC, Bongi Sithole-Moloi, said that the loss of a “dedicated public servant is a blow to our democratic principles and impedes the progress we strive to achieve”.