Page 13 - SA Chamber UK Newsletter April 2024

tracer shells being fired between clans who’d apparently been feuding since the Anglo-
Boer War.

As captured in a 1981 New York Times article, “Clan warfare among Zulus has been
a familiar phenomenon in the province of Natal since British colonial days. As white
authority and settlements expanded, Zulu groups fought over the dwindling land that
was left to them in what were called ‘native reserves’.”

Apparently, the Gwala clan had supported the British, and the Ntombela clan the Boers.
Regardless, the result was a blood-feud akin to the likes of Sicilian mafia or Scottish
clans of the Middle Ages.

Added to that was the apartheid state fuelling the conflict, making for a messy business.
I remember interviewing both the devoutly Stalinist ANC Midlands leader-cum-warlord
Harry Gwala, and IFP warlord David Ntombela in that time. I recall semi-automatic
weapons tucked under the driver’s seat.

Fast Forward to Theft & Plunder

Fast forward thirty years and it no longer matters who was driving.

“No matter that there were already a few signs warning of what could go wrong…”

The killings in KwaZulu-Natal continue, occasionally clannish, more often a political
assassination, invariably linked to someone with the keys to the state’s safe.

The violence is now largely motivated by access to government tenders across the
various ministries, which unfortunately has become embedded in state culture.

As example, I take the front-page investigative

features on corruption in the Department
of Water and Sanitation I wrote for Daily
Maverick in 2023. What I discovered via a
‘deep-throat’ source would’ve curled my
hair if it was straight. Assassinations on the
one hand and government ministers ‘living

large’ on the other, while the infrastructure
associated with their ministries collapsed
and the ministers, Director-Generals and
DDGs getting off scot-free in the process.

https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/
article/2022-04-09-watergate-whistle-
blower-lifts-lid-on-probably-the-most- From left: Nomvula Mokonyane, Senzo Mchunu and
Lindiwe Sisulu. (Photos: Gallo Images, iStock and
perfect-example-of-anc-state-capture/ Unsplash)

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SA CHAMBER UK NEWSLETTER APRIL 2024