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There have been a number of political assassinations in post-apartheid South Africa.[1][2] Many have been ascribed to battles around patronage within the ruling [7][8] However not all assassinations are a result of conflict within the ruling party. The National Freedom Party led by Zanele Magwaza-Msibi, with its base largely in KwaZulu-Natal, claims that 21 of its members have been killed since the party was founded in early 2011.[9] The Inkatha Freedom Party claims that ten of its elected representatives have been murdered.[10] According to the Daily Maverick there have been "59 political murders in the last five years".[11]
According to Raymond Suttner "assassinations have become a regularised way of deciding on leadership and access to wealth within the ANC and its allies".[12]
It has been argued that the situation is particularly bad in the provinces of [7][13][14][15] KwaZulu-Natal has been described as the "epicenter of political violence"[16] while Mpumalanga has been described as "notorious for political assassinations"[17] Fourteen assassinations have been documented in Mpumalanga[18] and 450 in KwaZulu-Natal.[19] It has been reported that "Since the beginning of 2011, the murder of people with high political profiles has been confined almost exclusively to KwaZulu-Natal, with 27 in the province since February 2011.[18] According to the ANC 38 of its members have been assassinated in KwaZulu-Natal since the beginning of 2011.[20] It has been suggested that support for murders in the taxi industry in KwaZulu-Natal by leading figures in the ruling party legitimated the use of violence in the democratic era which then spilled over into the political sphere.[20][21][22]
There has been one conviction in response to the fourteen assassinations in Mpumalanga and four in KwaZulu-Natal for the forty two assassinations leading one researcher to conclude that some people are starting to believe there may be a "general licence for political killings" but that "this may only be available to people in certain political positions".[18]
South Africa, Parliament of South Africa, African National Congress, Constitution of South Africa, Courts of South Africa
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South Africa, Politics of South Africa, Constitution of South Africa, Courts of South Africa, Constitutional Court of South Africa
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