Skwatsha vindicated
Vindicating ANC Western Cape provincial chairperson Mcebisi Skwatsha’s insistence that a stabbing incident last year was an attempt on his life, a Worcester magistrate found the accused guilty of attempted murder this week.
Almost a year after Skwatsha was stabbed in the neck during an ANC meeting in Worcester, ANC Youth League member Ndikho Tyawana appeared in the Worcester Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday.
Magistrate Robert Henney found that Tyawana’s intent was to murder Skwatsha and that he had missed a crucial neck vein by less than 3cm.
The attack occurred shortly before Skwatsha was to announce the suspension of senior ANC members from its Drakenstein and Boland branches and the ANC has always maintained that Tyawana was part of a wider conspiracy to kill Skwatsha.
The findings of the ANC’s own investigation into the incident have not been released, but the Mail & Guardian understands that they implicated Mogamat Madjiet, ANC regional secretary in Worcester, in a plot against Skwatsha. Madjiet subsequently joined Cope, with Paarl’s controversial ANC branch leader, Dan Kotze, whom the ANC also investigated.
Five years ago Kotze was suspended by the party for bringing it into disrepute—he stood against the ANC during the election.
The M&G understands that Kotze was “rehabilitated and brought back into the organisation” by its then provincial chairman, James Ngculu.
Ngculu and Skwatsha were in opposing camps within the Western Cape ANC, with Ngculu backing former premier Ebrahim Rasool against Skwatsha.
The ANC is now trying to woo Kotze back to its fold, the M&G understands. Several attempts to contact Kotze and Madjiet were unsuccessful.
