COPE: Murder of 3 members 'no coincidence'

COPE'S provincial leadership says there has been "a clear escalation of political intolerance" in the Western Cape recently - a trend which, the party says, has culminated in three of its members being shot dead during the past 10 days. The party's Western Cape chairman, Mbulelo Ncedana, was addressing the provincial legislature yesterday when he made the statement.

Ncedana said a Cope member who actively recruited for the party, Mayoyo Mantashe, had been gunned down at New Crossroads.Then three days later, two more party members had been shot dead in separate incidents, he said.

Pieter Malan Cillie, a farmer in Ceres who Ncedana said had been active in establishing COPE structures in that region, was shot dead on Friday. Ncedana claimed that a man had been arrested by the Ceres police for Cillie's murder. He said the man had "admitted to having been bought (paid) to commit the crime though he's remaining mum on who paid him". Provincial police spokesperson Superintendant Andre Traut said this morning that no arrests had been made in connection with Cillie's death.

Also on Friday, Zilindile Madolwana, who had set up Cope party structures in Nyanga, was killed at his home there. Madolwana, 67, who was killed at about 3pm, had just returned to Cape Town on Friday morning after spending four weeks in the Eastern Cape.

Ncedana said: "The worrying thing in all of this for us, beyond our concern with losing invaluable members of our communities, is that these incidents, though in different areas, happened next to each other "There seem to be a common factor in their deaths: that of being very active in establishing COPE structures and being good recruiters. "If a coincidence, it is a very strange one. "These kinds of things are unacceptable, especially in a country like ours where freedom of association is enshrined in the constitution."

Nyanga police spokeswoman Captain Ntomboxolo Sitshitshi confirmed on Tuesday night that a murder docket had been opened into Madolwana's death. Meanwhile, Cope has announced that it will celebrate its first anniversary in Kimberley in the Northern Cape next week.

Cope deputy president Mbhazima Shilowa said on Tuesday that the party would hold its celebration next Wednesday, December 16 - Reconciliation Day - the date the party was officially launched amid much fanfare in Bloemfontein last year . While the party has postponed its policy conference and also its elective conference to choose permanent leaders until next year, the Kimberley event willbe used to report back to supporters on what the party has done since it was established. It is still without a constitution and the building of branches is understood to be a slow process.

Shilowa said the party's membership card and the logos for its women's, youth and student wings would be unveiled. Details would also be given about the party's plans for the 2011 local government elections. He said there was "steady" progress in some areas of the country in launching branches, but said that "where weaknesses have been identified these will be attended to". Since the April elections, Cope has been beset by a range of problems, including the departure of some of its leaders, while some members have returned to the ANC.

Source: IoL