There was chaos at the Durban High Court on Wednesday as ANC supporters, families of victims, and the accused, argued about who should be in the courtroom to listen to the matter of five men charged with killing ANC men in 2021, before local government elections.
Five men namely; Nkosinathi Emmanuel Ngcobo, Sandile Mzizi, Mzimuni Ngiba, Sifiso Mlondo, and Phathisakhe Ngiba are on trial for the murders of ANC activist Mzukisi Nyanga and ANC ward 101 candidate Siyabonga Mkhize.
Moreover, the number of people who should be in the gallery has been limited due to the audience making noise during the court proceedings. Since the start of the session for the murder trial of Mzukisi Nyanga and Siyabonga Mkhize, the gallery is usually full of family members of the accused, family members of the victims, and the ANC supporters from Mayville.
On Wednesday, it was no different. However, the court staff had a list of the people who should be inside the court. Everyone who had come for this case was unhappy about this. The families of the victims complained about being limited.
The ANC supporters and some family members of the five accused men made rude remarks to the families of the victims. Some ANC members did not want to leave the courtroom when the court staff asked them to.
Eventually, the matter started but did not sit for long as Judge W. Harrison postponed it to next week.
“As you can see Mr Dlamini is not here due to circumstances beyond his control. Therefore, the matter cannot proceed,” he said.
Judge Harrison said it had been agreed with the prosecutor and defence counsels that due to other commitments, the matter would continue next week.
The State alleges that the motive behind the killing of Mkhize was political as he contested the ward councillor position in 2021, at the Ward 101 Branch General Meetings (BRGMs), which were between June and August 2021.
These meetings were to hold elections for the ward councillor candidate as the term of Mzimuni was coming to an end. Mzimuni had been a councillor for approximately 12 years. There were also factions of the ANC within this ward. One was called Unity and Continuity (U&C) and the other was called Renewal Rebuilding Unity (RRU). Mkhize and Nyanga were members of the U&C faction and all four accused excluding Mzizi were members of the PRU faction. Mzizi was not an ANC member.
Mkhize contested with other ANC members, including the candidate that the four accused preferred; however, he ended up winning the ANC elections and was the party’s ward councillor candidate, should the ANC win the ward in the November 2021, local government elections. Nyanga supported Mkhize.
“For various reasons and interests, the accused were unhappy with the election of Mkhize. They made several attempts to derail his formal endorsement by the ANC at eThekwini Municipality but failed,” said the state.
According to the state, the accused men conspired with others to have Mkhize killed before the elections. On October 15, Mkhize was shot and killed together with Nyanga.