HEADLINE NEWS

ANC/UDM Leaders Suspect 'Third Hand' In Nyanga Killings

The African National Congress and the United Democratic Movement on Wednesday expressed suspicion that a "third hand" could be responsible for political killings in the Nyanga and the KTC settlements, east of Cape Town.

During separate visits to the area, ANC and UDM leaders called on members to remain calm and resist finger-pointing as this could worsen the already tense situation.

Four UDM members and an ANC councillor have been shot dead in Nyanga since Sunday.

UDM leader Bantu Holomisa told reporters after a visit to the families of the four murdered members of his party that he suspected a "third hand" was responsible. This suspicion was based on the "pattern emanating from the state to discredit some of the institutions in this province (Western Cape)".

He said allegations of the involvement of a National Intelligence Agency agent in arms trafficking to the Western Cape was further reason to suspect that secret forces could be involved in the political violence.

Holomisa said there was no rivalry between the two parties before. "The question is why only now?"

He said ANC members had attended several UDM meetings and asked questions without anything happening to them.

"But if there are some people within government structures who want to see that there is no stability ... there's a possibility that they might have done that (killed the ANC councillor), and point a finger at us (UDM).

"Even in Richmond (in KwaZulu-Natal), as you have now heard, it was the police and members of 21 Battalion who were responsible for gunning down the people, yet earlier on it was said to be the UDM and ANC."

At a media conference in Cape Town on Wednesday afternoon, ANC Western Cape leader Ebrahim Rasool said his party had not declared war on the UDM because it had nothing to benefit from such violence.

ANC supporters were speaking about "the presence of sinister forces on the ground", and Rasool said it would therefore be a major mistake for the ANC and the UDM to be seen as warring parties.

He said the ANC had resisted the temptation of entering into face- to-face debates with UDM leaders where "even a wrong word could send a wrong signal out to the forces on the ground".

"We are saying let's get to the ground first... let's calm the situation... stable it, and then we can move on at the provincial level.

"We miss the boat when we believe that when provincial or national leaders speak that suddenly it translates into peace on the ground," Rasool told reporters.

The ANC was of the view that the five murders should be regarded as criminal acts and not political.

Provincial ANC secretary Mcebisi Skwatsha also said the violence should not been seen as a fight between the ANC and the UDM.

"We have not declared war on the UDM....We don't have a reason to do so. They are not our enemies... There's nothing we can achieve by declaring war on the UDM."

Skwatsha said the conditions for political parties declaring war on each other had long past.

A peace service will be held in Nyanga on Thursday afternoon.

Cape Town mayor Nomaindia Mfeketo in a statement said she believed the healing process in the community should begin with people coming together in prayer.

"We need to look at how to heal recent wounds and to regain order, because - at the end of the day - senseless violence only leads to torn-apart communities, orphans, widows and widowers.

"I believe that people coming together in prayer will help these processes along, and I hope as many Nyanga residents as possible will come to pray," said Mfeketo.

Democratic Party leader Tony Leon told an audience at the University of Natal in Durban that it was worrying that political violence had provided almost one corpse for every day since President Nelson Mandela had announced the election date seven days ago.

Leon said whenever the ANC support base was threatened, people started dying.

"So history repeats itself, although one would have liked to believe that five years down the line the parties would have bothered to communicate to their supporters... that they are now in bed and in the Cabinet together."

Leon said violence should not be condoned, and therefore any party using violence as a weapon should not be supported.

Four people were earlier in the day briefly detained and questioned in relation to the Nyanga killings, but Captain Mark Romburgh said the men could not be linked to any offence and were released.