Inkosi Mhlabunzima Maphumulo Gunned Down
On 25 February 1991, exactly 35 years ago, the President of the traditional leaders’ organisation, the Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa (CONTRALESA) and African National Congress (ANC) stalwart, Chief Mhlabunzima Maphumulo, was gunned down in the driveway of his home in Pietermaritzburg. Maphumulo was a Chief from Maqongqo/Table Mountain area, east of Pietermaritzburg. He had survived a previous attempt on his life when his house was burnt down.
An alleged “hit-squad” operative claimed that the murder had been planned by the Pietermaritzburg police, and that the assassins were paid R5,000 each. Judge N.S. Page found in his judicial inquest the testimony of this witness and another alleged “hit-squad” witness “unreliable”, “appalling” and “even worse”. A subsequent probe by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), paying no attention to the conflicting judicial ruling, nevertheless found that Chief Maphumulo had been targeted for attack in a planned hit-squad operation.
Mhlabunzima Joseph Maphumulo was born on 6 September 1949 at the Maqongqo district of KwaZulu-Natal and matriculated at Bhekuzulu College for the sons of chiefs in 1971. At the age of 24, Maphumulo inherited the role of Chief of the Maphumulo clan from his father and the territory which his chieftaincy encompassed contained 35,000 people at the time. Since his installation in 1973, he carried out the duties of the chief
