Press Release – From Concerned Residents and Organisations in Umlazi
Tuesday, 6 June 3:00 p.m.

Hundreds of residents of E-Section, Umlazi, were waiting for Mayor Obed Mlaba yesterday at Mazolwandle High School where he was scheduled to plant a tree. They wanted to show their anger to Mlaba for his failure to offer any public response to the recent slew of political murders and shootings in Umlazi. Mlaba didn’t come.

Also yesterday the case of two accused of the muder of Komi Zulu who were arrested at Councillor Xulu’s house on Thursday last week was postponed till 12 June in R court, Umlazi. Xulu and his henchmen were in the court as were a large group of community activists who circulated a ‘no bail’ petition. The Umlazi SAPS had also independently prepared their own petition requesting the prosecuter not to grant bail. Bail was not given. There was no media present. This is astonishing. Imagine the media frenzy if two suspects had been arrested in the councillor’s house after shooting and killing with apparent impunity in Westville or Reservoir Hills….It would be a national and international scandal. Only Isolezwe is covering this story on an ongoing basis. There were also articles in yesterday’s Ilanga and the Sunday Tribune. This is appreciated but it’s still hardly an adequate response to these ongoing brutal attacks on democracy that have left three people dead, one paralysed and others with relatively minor injuries.