Violence is not the answer: Mbalula

In a statement on Tuesday‚ a day after Magaqa died in a Durban hospital‚ Mbalula admitted that more needed to be done to ensure that political killings in KwaZulu-Natal were dealt with.

“We condemn in the strongest terms the use of violence as a way of settling differences between our people. It has always been a held view by the majority of our people that only dialogue can resolve our differences‚ not violence or confrontation‚” he said.

Mbalula invoked comments by Nelson Mandela in February 1990‚ during a period when KwaZulu-Natal was awash in bloodshed‚ when the former president said: "Take your guns‚ your knives and pangas (machetes) and throw them into the sea.”

“As the Minister of Police‚ I want to evoke this call by our former President‚ that it is enough. All these killings must come to an end‚” said Mbalula.

He that while many cases of political violence in KZN had resulted in arrests‚ "work still needs to be done on other cases".

"To overcome tensions and subsequent killings‚ the need for tolerance and community participation cannot be overemphasised. We are urging people to assist the police with information‚ preferably before a crime is committed so that decisive action can be taken‚" his statement said.

Mbalula also paid tribute to Magaqa‚ saying that he was part of a "restless generation of young people‚ who were impatient with the economic marginalisation of young people and intolerant of unemployment‚ poverty and inequality that visited many young black people in our country".