ANC councillor killed ‘for taking over massacre accused’s drug trade’

TheLusikisiki massacretrial has heard how a violent feud over drugs, money and alleged betrayal led to the killing of ANC regional leaderMncedisi “Sncane” Gijana. A confession read into the record at the Mthatha High Court, sitting in Lusikisiki, this week, detailed how alleged kingpin Mzukisi Ndamase allegedly ordered Gijana’s murder from prison, accusing his former associate of taking over his drug operations and trying to keep him behind bars. The revelations emerged during the confession of Aphiwe “AP” Ndende, one of six accused in both the September 28 2024 Lusikisiki massacre and Gijana’s murder.

The accused are linked to the Ngobozana village massacre in which 18 people — 15 women, two men and a 13-year-old boy — were killed. Gijana, 58, an ANC Alfred Nzo regional executive member and Mzimvubu Local Municipality councillor, was gunned down at his Lubhacweni home in KwaBhaca on August 19 2024. Judge Richard Brooks this week ruled that five confessions and two pointing-out statements were admissible despite objections from Ndende and co-accused Bonga Rico Hintsa and Siphosoxo “BG” Myekethe, who alleged police torture and coercion.

Mzukisi told me there is a drug dealer at Lubhacweni in KwaBhaca who is also an ANC ward councillor named Mncendi Sncane [Gijana] Retired Lusikisiki detective branch commander Colonel Siyabulela Kufa, who took Ndende’s confession on October 17 2024, read the statement into the court record. “In August 2024, I was at Mount Ayliff with my friend Bonga Hintsa. We were staying in a room there and selling drugs,” Ndende said in the confession.

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“One day, Rico received a call from a man I know as Songezo. “After the call, Rico told me that Songezo said we would receive a call from Mzukisi, who is serving a sentence at the Mthatha prison and with whom we regularly communicate.”

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