In South Africa, FF Plus backed a mayoral candidate convicted of murder — Daily Maverick
In South Africa, the Freedom Front Plus (FF Plus) party has backed its candidate for mayor of the Nelson Mandela Bay metropolitan municipality, Bill Harrington, whose conviction for the murder of African National Congress activist Mbongeni Jama has again come into focus ahead of the 2026 local elections. As Daily Maverick reports, Harrington said that his past had not been a secret to the party since he joined it.
Conviction for the 1991 murder
Harrington was 21 when he was involved in Jama's murder in KwaZulu-Natal province in 1991. At the time, he was serving as a young police officer and led a unit of young Inkatha special constables. Jama was shot at close range by one of the constables under Harrington's command.
Harrington himself did not fire the shot, but he was found guilty of murder because of his role as the unit commander. He was initially sentenced to eight years in prison, but the term was increased to 18 years after an appeal. In total, he spent 13 years and 10 months in prison.
Harrington said that young police officers at the time were influenced by the political and security environment in which they worked and viewed the ANC under the UDF banner as an enemy. At the same time, he noted that he does not consider this an excuse for what happened and accepts responsibility for his role as the unit commander.
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Freedom Front Plus position
After his release, Harrington applied to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission for amnesty in 1997 for his role in Jama's murder, but his application was rejected. According to him, during the hearings he apologized to the victim's parents and family.
FF Plus leader and member of parliament Wouter Wessels said that the party knew about Harrington's conviction and initially engaged him as an employee rather than a candidate in order to assess his conduct and remorse. Wessels stressed that murder cannot be justified, but the party believes that Harrington has been rehabilitated and should not be punished for his mistakes for the rest of his life.
Harrington is currently a serving councillor in the Nelson Mandela Bay metropolitan municipality, the FF Plus chair in the Eastern Cape province, and a member of the party's federal executive body. He acknowledged the right of political opponents to scrutinize his past but said it does not define him completely.
