[imagesource:

In KwaZulu-Natal, as with much of South Africa, politics, corruption, and crime have become intricately linked.

The province is home to Jacob Zuma, after all.

Whilst our former president may soon find himself behind bars, the hired assassins in KwaZulu-Natal seem to operate without fear of repercussion.

Turf wars are won by eliminating rivals, through the use of cold-blooded mercenaries, and the top three police stations for murders in the first quarter of the year are all in the province.

Carte Blanche decided to take a closer look at what they’ve dubbed the ‘killing fields’:

With political position comes the power to dispense patronage. But the position now also comes with a target on the backs of KwaZulu-Natal’s iziNduna.

Since January 2019, at least 27 iziNduna have been assassinated in cold blood, while several others have only narrowly escaped death…

A reformed inkabi – or hitman-for-hire – reveals the political machinations and greed that feed the execution-style hits in a province where life is cheap and illegal guns plentiful.

You can reportedly buy a handgun for R500, and an AK-47 for around R1 000.

It’s impossible to watch one of these hits (there’s footage from around the seven-minute mark) and not be shaken by the total disregard for human life:

[source:carteblanche]