Durban – A joint memorial service planned for Thursday by
the KwaZulu-Natal government for the two people who were killed in Inchanga
earlier this week has been postponed for further peace talks in the area.
Community Safety and Liaison MEC Mxolisi Kaunda was expected
to address the joint memorial services of SACP member Nontsikelelo Blose, who
was shot and killed on Sunday, and ANC member Xolani Ngcobo, who was killed on
Monday morning.
The service was scheduled to take place at Nondlini Hall in
Inchanga, but tensions between the SACP and ANC leadership in the area were
still at boiling point and Kaunda was expected to hold further talks in a bid
to bring stability to the area.
"Today [Thursday], we are having further engagements
with the leadership of both organisations to further promote the spirit of
peace, stability and peaceful co-existence," said Kaunda.
Two men appeared in court on Wednesday in connection with
Blose's murder at a tavern in Fredville on Sunday night. The matter was
postponed to August 31 for an identity parade to be conducted, the National
Prosecuting Authority said.
Ngcobo was shot and stoned to death on Monday morning,
apparently in a revenge attack. Police are still searching for his killers.
Ward 4 councillor Malombo Nxumalo previously told News24
that he believed that Blose was killed because she was due to testify against
those accused of the murder of Phillip Dlamini, 69.
Premature move by department
Dlamini was one of two people killed during a public meeting
at the KwaNdokweni sports ground in Inchanga earlier this year. The killing of
Dlamini and Bongani Hlatshwayo, 38, deepened divisions between the ANC and the
SACP in the area.
Nxumalo, an independent candidate who is related to former
eThekwini mayor James Nxumalo, told News24 on Thursday that there was a meeting
scheduled to take place with Kaunda at the local police station.
He said a memorial service was scheduled to be held for
Ngcobo on Friday, while the SACP would hold a funeral service for Blose at
Nondlini Hall on Sunday.
"As the SACP, we will not be attending Ngcobo's
memorial service. But maybe the decision will change after this morning's
meeting."
Nxumalo said it was premature for the department to try and
bring two feuding factions together under one roof when the situation was still
so volatile.
"I am not sure what the department was trying to do,
what was the logic? People have been fighting, houses have been burnt and
people have been killed, I really don't understand how they expected everyone
to gather under one roof, unless they wanted to create havoc," said
Nxumalo.
The latest deaths brought to 15 the number of people killed
in what are believed to be politically-motivated murders in the province in the
last few months.
