S. African Political Figure Nkabinde Shot Dead
January 24, 1999 - 0:0
JOHANNESBURG The controversial general secretary of South Africa's United Democratic Movement (UDM) Party, Sifiso Nkabinde, was assassinated early saturday in KwaZulu-Natal province, police said. Nkabinde was hit when a number of people opened fire on him outside a shopping centre in the politically tense town of Richmond, regional Police Chief Superintendent Henry Budhram said. President Nelson Mandela's spokesman said he was shocked and dismayed at the killing, which has fuelled fears of widespread political violence in the province months short of a general election scheduled for mid-year.
The assassination was likely to signal the resumption of renewed violence and bloodshed in the region, democratic party Spokesman Douglas Gibson said. Tensions between political parties in the Richmond area soared since Nkabinde's release from jail at the end of April last year. He had been facing 16 charges of murder and two of incitement to murder. Nkabinde, an expelled member of the ruling African National Congress (ANC), was acquitted for lack of evidence.
(AFP)
The assassination was likely to signal the resumption of renewed violence and bloodshed in the region, democratic party Spokesman Douglas Gibson said. Tensions between political parties in the Richmond area soared since Nkabinde's release from jail at the end of April last year. He had been facing 16 charges of murder and two of incitement to murder. Nkabinde, an expelled member of the ruling African National Congress (ANC), was acquitted for lack of evidence.
(AFP)