Moerane Commission's bold moves

Killings reduced in KZN with implementation of recommendations

- BONGANI HANS

SOME of the Moerane Commission's recommendations are bearing fruit as they led to the police's Political Killings Task Team (PKTT) formation and the reduction of murders in Glebelands Hostel, south of Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, said a former secretary of the commission.

The former secretary, who asked not to be named to protect his business's integrity, said the commission completed its work and handed the report to the premier's officer, who had a mandate to implement the recommendations.

When contacted, Advocate Marumo Moerane SC declined to comment on the implementation of his recommendations.

He said he often gets calls from journalists seeking his comment on the implementation. “Each time I give the same answer, for professional reasons, I don’t comment on the work that I do. We submitted the report, which is in the public domain, its findings and recommendations, and the evidence on which the findings and recommendations were based is a matter of public records,” he said.

Former KZN premier Willies Mchunu commissioned Moerane in October 2016 to investigate the underlying causes of the political violence dating back to 2011 in the province and suggest solutions. This was during the peak of political killings.

The commission’s secretariat was made up of Solo Mdledle, Frans Muller, Zola Moima, and Busisiwe Dube.

One of them told Independent Media that the arrest and conviction of Sibusiso Ncengwa, who confessed to being a hitman in the former ANC Youth League secretary-general Sindiso Magaqa’s murder, was a result of the implementation of the recommendations contained in the report released in June 2018.

Ncengwa was expected to turn a State witness in the case implicating former Umzimkhulu municipal manager Zweliphansi Stanley Skhosana in Magaqa’s murder.