Hostels are breeding hitmen

Notoriously violent KwaZulu-Natal hostels are perfect "breeding grounds" for hitmen and give corrupt politicians easy access to willing triggermen for assassinations.

This was one of the key observations of violence monitor Mary de Haas, a University of KwaZulu-Natal researcher, giving evidence at the first sitting of the Commission of Inquiry into the Underlying Causes of the Murder of Politicians in KwaZulu-Natal, which started in Mayville, Durban, yesterday.

De Haas, who has been investigating political violence in the province for more than three decades, said there was a proliferation of hitmen in the province, most of them bred by appalling conditions - and desperation fuelled by unemployment - in hostels.

"Hostel life is dreadful. Hostels in Durban attract a lot of people. KwaMashu Hostel attracts people from across Tugela, even people from the taxi industry," she said.

Exacerbating factors included "the lack of service delivery at hostels, illegal evictions, police colluding with certain factions and, on top of all these things, is the presence of hitmen".

But this was not the only reason for political violence. She said that poor police work, political party factional fighting, rivalries between opposing parties and apparently worsening "ethnic and tribal" tensions were also reasons for the violence.

Many of the tribally engendered fights were because of the hostel environment, as many residents came from Pondoland and the Eastern Cape and were on the receiving end of a new Zulu ethnic and tribal assertion of identity.

De Haas spent almost four hours being quizzed by evidence leader Bheki Manyathi on her many investigations into the causes of political violence and killings in the province.

She said there was a culture of impunity in KwaZulu-Natal and the political parties remained silent instead of taking action.

"I believe politicians should always set an example," she said.

De Haas added that political appointees in the police meant there was a dismal conviction rate - and countless malicious arrests.

"You sometimes feel that the police rush to make an arrest just to look good because of the pressure from the public. There is ineffectiveness in investigating political killings. There is also a lot of political interference that impedes political killing investigations."

De Haas said the police service was a shambles and that officers from other provinces "with no history of what has happened here" were needed to resolve the crisis.

The R15-million commission was established by KwaZulu-Natal Premier Willies Mchunu in October.