Slain ANC trio all good friends

Three key ANC figures from the same region of the party in KwaZulu-Natal, gunned down in the space of only four months, were all friends.

This emerged in the wake of Sithembiso Mhlongo's bloody murder at the hands of gunmen posing as policemen in the early hours of Thursday in the Moses Mabhida region, which is the home town of ANC presidential candidate Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.

His name was added to the growing list of ANC councillors gunned down in the run-up to the ANC's national elective conference next month.

Mhlongo's close friend, Lungisani Mnguni, was assassinated in Camperdown on Monday.

As the dust of the most recent murder settled, the ANC Moses Mabhida regional secretary, Mzi Zuma, said the three slain officials had risen through the ruling party's ranks together.

"They were close and they all served in the same structures.

"We must say that this is a worrying situation and we are all concerned," he said.

Zuma said it was disheartening that the region had become a hot spot for such brutal killings.

"To lose a leader of that calibre is a great loss for the ANC but also for the community that he served."

He said Mhlongo's preferences in the ANC leadership succession race were irrelevant.

"We should be reluctant to speculate about his affiliation. Whether this man was a leader of the ANC or a man off the street, our concern would be equal. We want to see justice done."