Sunday Times reports that at least 148 local government officials have been murdered in SA since 2018 — and the attacks have ramped up in the past four years.
The deaths – predominantly linked to corruption, with those targeted often whistleblowers – need “urgent attention”, according to the SA Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu). It says corruption and violence in municipalities are closely connected to the collapse of service delivery. The government does not keep statistics on the murder of government officials, or arrests and convictions in these cases. While national government officials have also come under attack, research by global crisis mapping initiative Armed Conflict Location & Event Data (Acled) shows that municipal officials in SA are most at risk.
Acled’s Susanna Deetlefs commented that while it was said that the killing of local officials went hand in hand with elections, that was is not true in terms of the data. She went on to explain: “There is money in municipalities. If you look at the contracts and tenders that people get with municipalities, this kind of money can be a very strong motivator. You have some employees who want to fight corruption and others who benefit from it financially. This creates conflicts between them and inevitably ends in murder.” Deetlefs pointed out that in most cases local officials lived in the community and were accessible, which could also be a reason they were the most targeted. National officials are safer.
Samwu’s Papikie Mohale called for the protection of whistleblowers. “Our municipal workers leave their homes to serve our communities, never to return to their loved ones,” he lamented.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Hendrik Hancke at Sunday Times (subscriber access only)
- Read too, Water mafias: It’s like working in a war zone, say municipal workers, at Mail & Guardian (subscriber access only)
Get other news reports at the SA LabourNews home page