Zulu prince a suspect in murder

NONGOMA -- A member of the Zulu royal family appeared in the Vryheid Magistrate's Court yesterday in connection with the death recently of Nongoma mayor and Inkatha Freedom Party leader Joseph Sikhonde, northern KwaZulu-Natal police said yesterday.

Prince Thulani Zulu, who is a member of the African National Congress, was arrested in Nongoma on Monday.

His arrest brings to four the number of suspects arrested in connection with Sikhonde's death, Inspector Sabelo Zwane said.

Sikhonde, 38, was killed in KwaMinya two weeks ago while on his way home from the Ndabuko high school where he was the principal.

Three youths were arrested and charged with his murder the next day.

Zulu's case was postponed to June 27 for a possible bail hearing.

Since Sikhonde's death, five members of the Zulu royal household, apparently fighting on opposite sides of the IFP/ANC divide, have been arrested in connection with violence in the area.

Shortly after the murder, a group of youths, believed to be IFP supporters, killed an 18-year-old ANC member named Mahlambi, who was one of Sikhonde's pupils and who was accused of being part of the plot to kill the principal.

Six IFP members were arrested in connection with Mahlambi's murder, including four princes from the KwaMinya royal household, who are grandchildren of KwaZulu-Natal Welfare MEC Prince Gideon Zulu.

KwaZulu-Natal Housing MEC Dumisani Makhaye, an ANC spokesman, claimed the police at Nongoma had become "an armed wing of a political party".

"They are under enormous political pressure from their bosses to arrest the culprits of this (Sikhonde's) murder," Makhaye said in an obvious reference to the IFP.

Reacting to Makhaye's statement, IFP spokesman Musa Zondi said the officers investigating the murders were not based at the Nongoma police station, but were part of a special task team sent in from Durban.

l Police yesterday arrested seven people at Nongoma and recovered 16 firearms, including six AK47 rifles, after a public order policing unit and SA National Defence Force members were attacked by a group of men. -- Sapa