Has being an ANC politician become more dangerous by the day?
Speaker of Raymond Mhlaba Local Municipality was shot and killed in the Eastern Cape, days after three councillors were shot in KwaZulu-Natal.
Image: Wikimedia
You might want to get yourself a bulletproof vest or a group of security personnel if you have aspirations of becoming an ANC politician, as the job has seemingly become life-threatening of late.
On Tuesday the Eastern Cape ANC confirmed that the council speaker of Raymond Mahlaba Local Municipality in Fort Beaufort, Thozama Njobe, was shot and killed.
News24 reported that Njobe was gunned down outside of her home in Fort Beaufort on Monday night.
She was rushed to hospital but declared dead on arrival.
Her death comes a few weeks after she received death threats at her office.
ANC provincial secretary Oscar Mabuyane told News24 that an unknown man had visited Njobe’s office but she was in Johannesburg for the ANC Policy Conference at the time.
“He told those in the office that he had been hired to assassinate her. Sometimes we don’t believe these things, but it was reported to police and they did absolutely nothing,” he said.
The Democratic Alliance in the region said it was saddened to learn of the brutal and senseless killing of Njobe.
“Cllr Njobe was a crusader in the fight against corruption and this could have possibly led to her death, after getting shot near her home. The DA wishes to extend its deepest condolences to the Njobe family for their tragic loss,” the party said in a statement.
Njobe’s death comes just five days after former ANC Youth League secretary-general Sindiso Magaqa and two other councillors in uMzimkhulu Local Municipality, KwaZulu-Natal survived a hail of bullets after being shot while coming from a meeting.
FILE PICTURE: Sindiso Magaqa. (Photo by Gallo Images / Sowetan / Antonio Muchave)
“They were parked outside a general dealer when a red BMW came, people got out and opened fire on them and drove off,” said ANC KwaZulu-Natal spokesperson Mdumiseni Ntuli at the time.
Magaqa is a PR councillor in the municipality and served as the ANC Youth League secretary-general before the league was disbanded in 2012.
ANC MP Dr Makhosi Khoza has been receiving deaths threats for months after she spoke out against state capture, corruption and President Jacob Zuma’s leadership.
ANC MP Makhosi Khoza. Picture: Gallo Images
She has also called for Speaker of the National Assembly Baleka Mbete to a allow secret ballot in the vote of no confidence against Zuma next month.
Khoza released screenshots of messages she has been getting from unknown people last week.
In the messages, the stranger says: “I will find you and I will kill you. You have 21 days before you die.”
She responded to one message and said: “Go ahead”.
A commission of inquiry into political killings is also under way in KwaZulu-Natal as more than 30 people were killed due to political violence in the province.
