Death threats have led to another director’s exit in Vryheid

A SECOND director at AbaQulusi Municipality resigned in as many weeks.

Municipal manager, Bonga Ntanzi, said he was shocked and disappointed on Wednesday, November 7, when he was informed that Director of the Technical Services Department, Cedric Masuku, has resigned with immediate effect.

The week prior, Director of Community Services, Archie Khumalo, had resigned following allegations that he did not possess a matric certificate.

Mr Masuku had confided in Mr Ntanzi and mayor, Jerry Sibiya, that he had been receiving death threats and believed that his life was in danger.

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“It has been a hard decision that I had to take, since I wanted to contribute meaningfully to my community and build a legacy with my employer,” said Mr Masuku in his letter of resignation. “The recent change of events made me realise how important life is compared to rewards for work done on a daily basis.”

It is believed that Mr Masuku had found armed men lurking in his office one morning and had received a phone call from an unknown number the next day, from a man warning that five men were monitoring his every move, after being paid to kill him.

Cllr Sibiya confirmed that Mr Masuku had reported the incident to the Crime Intelligence Unit for further investigation.

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Asked if he had taken any action to attend to Mr Masuku’s concerns about safety, Mr Ntanzi admitted that he hadn’t done anything yet.

“I did not see Masuku since he sent the email regarding the threats he had been receiving. I tried to phone him and did not get any joy. He had switched both his phones off and I could not get hold of him to discuss what the threats were about,” said Mr Ntanzi.

“Until then, I had not been concerned about the safety of any of the directors because I had not heard of any threats to them. His case was worrying me because I had no idea of where it was coming from. I wanted to meet with Crime Intelligence to talk to them to have a sense of where the threat is coming from, but before I did, I wanted to talk to him and get further information so I could understand what the problem is. I was still planning on briefing the council about the threats to him at the next meeting, but, by then, he was no longer there.”

Mr Ntanzi compares receiving news of Mr Masuku’s resignation to a bombshell being dropped.

He became concerned when Mr Masuku was a no show at an important meeting with the Department of Energy regarding the continued funding for AbaQulusi’s electrification projects.

“I was still expecting him to join the meeting, because we had planned it a long time ago, when I received a message from my office that Masuku had resigned. We have been trying so hard to turn the corner and get our infrastructure projects back on course. The Department of Energy said they were happy to receive reports that the municipality was stable and promised to continue to fund us. They had seen our ‘Back to Basics’ report and were impressed that we had moved the municipality from being dysfunctional to being fully functional. They commended us for reporting to them consistently on our progress… And now, again, I must take this knock,” said Mr Ntanzi, expressing his frustration at this turn of events.

Mr Masuku’s position, as well as the position of Director of Community Services, was declared vacant at a special council meeting which took place that week.

Roads manager, PJ Ndlovu, was appointed acting Director of Technical Services until a permanent appointment can be made.