Action is needed to prevent a rerun of the 'killing fields'

On Monday Richmond municipal manager Sibusiso Sithole died in a hail of bullets. That he was assassinated seems an almost foregone conclusion.

His is a brutal and devastating death in its own right - but it is a killing that cannot be looked at in isolation.

The people of Richmond, in the heart of KwaZulu-Natal, will go cold at this news as it harks back to violence that rocked the area almost 20 years ago.

Between April 1997 and January 1999, about 120 people, including councillors, were killed. Richmond became known as "the killing fields".

The violence seemed to have settled, but a 2015 murder of a municipal security official raised concerns.

Between November and December last year six people were killed - four ANC and two IFP - across the province. At least 20 people from across the political spectrum were slaughtered in the run-up to the local government elections in August.

In October last year Premier Willies Mchunu pledged R15-million to fund a commission of inquiry into political violence in the province. Since then his office has not offered an update. "Task teams" and a "peace agreement" signed in 2014 have done little.

Clearly, more is needed. A commission isn't enough. Perhaps it's time to resurrect something like the "co-operation pact" signed between the ANC and IFP ahead of the 1994 election, which seemed to make a real difference.

But is there the political will to do so? Given the rising death toll, it seems unlikely .

Mchunu has a lot to answer for. His previous job was MEC for community safety, with political violence falling into that portfolio. Now, if something isn't done soon, Mchunu's watch could be remembered as one drenched in blood.