Minister of Police Senzo Mchunu has been declared persona non grata by a KwaZulu-Natal village after he accepted a sheep and blanket as gifts from one of the communities engaged in a bloody conflict over land and stock theft.
The Kwa-Musi and Onyango communities have been embroiled in a violent conflict over control of land since last year, resulting in the killing of several people and others fleeing their homes.
A community leader at Kwa-Musi, Simo Sibisi, told Sunday World this week that residents no longer trust Mchunu to deal with the issues in terms of intervention, accusing the minister of taking sides in the conflict.
“Senzo is banned from coming to our village as he is not neutral. We called him to come to Kwa-Musi to speak to us as the community, instead, he went to Onyango village, where he was gifted with a sheep and a blanket,” said Sibisi.
Mchunu visited Onyango on January 4 this year as part of a SAPS community outreach programme. During the event, he was gifted a sheep and a blanket, which he accepted.
But his acceptance of the gifts has now cast doubt over his impartiality among Kwa-Musi residents as Mchunu didn’t visit their village and they regard this as a sign of taking sides.
“What kind of intervention is that where you see a mediator receiving gifts from one village and failing to come to address the other village? He is conflicted, hence we request Deputy President [Paul] Mashatile to come down here to resolve this impasse we have with Onyango village,” said Sibisi.
Sunday World has learnt that at least 34 people have been murdered since the conflict started. Community leaders say the conflict is over control of land in this area, where most residents are subsistence and small-scale commercial farmers.
The village, which is a two-hour drive from Richard’s Bay town, has vast land, which the communities utilise to plant maize, beans and various vegetables for subsistence and to sell at the market.
Kwa-Musi residents have accused the Onyango community of using violence to dispossess them of their territory. The raging battle has forced some men who live in Kwa-Musi to seek refuge in the mountains for months, fearing for their lives.
As the war raged, attempts were made to the police authorities nationally and in the province for intervention, and despite cases opened with the police, Sunday World understands that nobody has been arrested.
Kwa-Musi community leaders point fingers at the police and Mchunu for failing to act.
On January 8, the organisation that speaks for vulnerable communities, Izwi Labantu Forum (ILF), wrote a letter to Mchunu, saying that the KwaMusi community had declared him persona non grata.
On February 12 this year, ILF wrote a letter to Mchunu, national police commissioner Fannie Masemola and the KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner, Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, highlighting that it was representing the community of Kwa-Musi. The organisation stated that government officials had repeatedly disregarded the legitimate concerns raised by the community of Kwa-Musi by failing to investigate killings in the area.
The ILF has since opted to appoint a legal firm to get the concerns of the Kwa-Musi community to the SA Human Rights Commission, the Public Protector, and the Presidency over what it termed “an escalation of killings” in the village.
Mchunu admitted that he received gifts from the Onyango community.
“I can confirm that I was given a sheep and a blanket, and I wore the blanket. I didn’t ask for those gifts, but the community gave me those gifts as a token of appreciation that I came to address them regarding conflicts which had been happening between Onyango and Kwa-Musi villages,” said Mchunu.
He said he attended meetings at both communities.
“I wanted to be there physically to deal with issues related to their conflicts.
“As for those who say that I am no longer wanted in that community, I don’t know anything about that,” said Mchunu.
He said that he never went to Kwa-Musi as a visitor, but he went there because there was a war where people were getting killed.
“I went there when there was war and people were dying, not as a visitor. If they want the deputy president to visit, it’s fine. Why would I go back again since there is no tension happening anymore? I won’t go there because I am not a visitor,” said Mchunu.
Cogta spokesperson in KwaZulu-Natal, Senzelwe Mzila said MEC Rev Thulasizwe Buthelezi was deployed by the KZN cabinet to lead a multi-stakeholder conflict resolution team in the area last year.
He said earlier this year the initiative was escalated and is now being led by Mchunu.
“This national intervention has led to the establishment of a permanent 10-a-side peace committee,” said Mzila.
Kwazulu-Natal provincial police spokesperson, Robert Netshiunda said between December 2024 and January 2025, Mchunu, Masemola and other senior managers, including Buthelezi, held several meetings with the leadership and the communities of Onyango and Kwa-Musi in order to diffuse tensions between the two neighbouring villages.
“Meetings were held at both villages and a peace committee was elected, comprising community members from both villages and dedicated police officers. In October 2024, five suspects were arrested with five firearms (a pistol R1, AK47 and two shotguns).
They were linked with murders related to the feud between the two villages. The student who stabbed another pupil at a school was also dealt with in accordance with the law. Investigations into the murders, some of which were brought up during community meetings and were said to have happened in the early 90s, are being investigated,” said Netshiunda.
