Durban — The EFF is in mourning after two of its prominent members in KwaZulu-Natal were brazenly gunned down last week in separate incidents.

Just hours after Mawethu Mathe was slayed on Thursday in Durban, Simanga Zwane suffered the same fate in Vryheid, in the north of the province.

Zwane’s brother, Musa, described him as a community activist who did not compromise on his fight against the lack of services for the community.

“I will miss my brother. He was one person who fought for the people’s rights to the end.

“His community work will surely speak for itself. I just hope that the people who killed him will face the wrath of the law,” said Musa.

“He was one of the people who fought for the upliftment of the community. We will only find closure when my brother’s killers are arrested and convicted. I will fight to the bitter end to see the people who killed him in jail.”

Musa said his brother was a pillar of the family.

“I don’t know how we will survive now. My brother was the person who helped us to stay afloat. I just hope that we find closure when his killers are arrested,” said Musa.

The family of Mathe, who was a well-known EFF member, said it was grieving and asked to be given “space”.

“We don’t have anything to say at the moment. Please give us space to grieve. We will comment later,” said Mathe’s close relative Sifiso.

Both Mathe and Zwane were killed by unknown gunmen, leaving the Red Berets (EFF) bleeding, but the party said it can’t conclude that these were politically motivated killings.

Marshall Dlamini, the secretary-general of the EFF, told the Daily News that they would allow law-enforcement agencies to investigate.

“We can’t say the killings were inspired by political elements, for now. Let us wait for investigations to be concluded so that we know what led to the killings,” said Dlamini, a close ally of party leader Julius Malema.

Dlamini added that the crime-busting agencies should round-up on the people who killed the duo.

“The police must arrest these people. We can’t have people who kill others and get away with murder. We will also fight to see the people who killed our members behind bars,” said Dlamini.

Dlamini said the EFF would follow the investigations “very closely” to make sure that the perpetrators are arrested.

“As the party, we will ensure we follow the investigations. But, again, we must stress that we are not saying this is politically motivated or not.

“We will wait for the investigations to conclude before we make conclusions,” said Dlamini.

The KZN province has been rocked by what has been termed as politically motivated murders which triggered the Moerane Commission of Inquiry in 2015 to investigate the killings.

The commission, which investigated among others, the killing of former ANC youth league secretary-general Sindiso Magaqa in 2017, cost just over R15 million.

KZN police spokesperson Constable Thenjiswa Ngcobo said they were still investigating the murders.

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Daily News