KZN premier calls for end to political violence

KwaZulu-Natal premier Zweli Mkhize called for an end to politically motivated crime.

"We can't allow any more deaths that are linked to this tension that is associated with the election processes. It really takes the province of KwaZulu-Natal back," said Mkhize.

Speaking at a provincial government meeting, he said the recent killings of a number of councillors in the province needed to be dealt with.

He welcomed the Independent Electoral Commission's (IEC) investigations into how over 1500 people were on the voters roll in ward 22 of the Abaqulusi municipality but were not resident in the ward.

"There have been some very negative tendencies. People must respect the electoral processes and they need to act in such a way that the elections must always be a reflection of the integrity of the process and the structures involved.

"Tampering with any of the election processes, the voter registration, is unacceptable."

He said interference in the voter registration process and deaths related to inter-party rivalries and intra-party rivalries needed to be addressed.

He hoped the two-day meeting would offer a solution to end the violence.

A number of members of the Inkatha Freedom Party, the National Freedom Party, and the African National Congress have been killed in the past year.

The most recent death was ANC councillor Makhosonke Msibi in Ulundi earlier this month.

The Abaqulusi ward 22 by-election was postponed for a second time this month after the Constitutional Court ordered an investigation into voter registration in the ward.

Former ANC councillor Andre Lotter had claimed the IEC had not sufficiently investigated how the extra 1525 people came to be on the roll.

An initial by-election date of April 24 was abandoned after Lotter obtained a court order. The IEC was then ordered to investigate whether names had been fraudulently added to the voters roll.

Last month IEC chairwoman Pansy Tlakula said 1525 people were removed from the roll and transferred back to their original wards, as it could not be proved that they ordinarily resided in ward 22.

The meeting aims to review the provincial government's performance over the past year.