Vusi Banda, chairperson of Mondlo Township Civic Organisation, was reportedly shot dead on Thursday sometime between 8:30–10pm.
On Wednesday, he was one of the leaders of a march from Mondlo to the offices of the Abaqulusi Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal to deliver a memorandum of demands. The protesting residents want Mondlo to no longer be under the jurisdiction of the municipality. They accused it of failing to provide services and using electricity cuts to get residents to pay municipal bills.
“We were aware of hearsay that a local nkabi (hitman) threatened to shoot him down,” a member of the civic organisation, who wished to stay anonymous, told GroundUp.
“I was told that gunshots were heard by [Banda’s] neighbours. They rushed to his house. It was too late.”
The civic member claims that there is a power struggle between the IFP and MK for control of the organisation. Abaqulusi Municipality has an IFP mayor.
According to another member of the civic organisation, it is not clear if the shooter acted alone. But it is believed the murderer broke in through a sliding door, killed Banda, and disappeared in the direction of the Mondlo shopping centre, not far from Banda’s house.
Participants in the march say Banda told them he had received threatening messages.
The first time GroundUp saw the organisation in operation was in mid-January. We witnessed an argument between members in a boardroom, where Banda told them: “If anyone came to this organisation with political interest, they must leave the house immediately. We represent the community, not our political parties.”
Banda encouraged residents to stand up for their constitutional rights. We once found him reading to members at his home, something he would do after meetings. There were piles of law books in his house.
Banda had worked as a political researcher in the Western Cape and worked at Robben Island Museum. He had also taught at a high school in KZN. He was 59.
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