TUESDAY, 3.30PM
ONE of the policeman being sought for questioning by investigators probing the July slaying of five African National Congress members in the KwaZulu-Natal midlands town of Richmond was shot and wounded in the town on Monday.
Richmond police confirmed an attempted murder docket had been opened following the shooting of Siphiwe Dlamini. Dlamini and Bongani Robert Ntolo, 26, both awol from the SA Police Service VIP protection unit, were named as being able to assist police in their investigation of the execution-style murder of five ANC members, including two newly elected councillors, in Richmond in July. Ntolo was arrested last week in connection with a shooting incident in nearby Indaleni on August 10, and appeared in the Richmond Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday for a bail application with two co-accused: police reservist Thembinkosi Muqga Ngwenya, 39, and civilian Bongani James Phiri, 32.
Both awol policemen are believed to be bodyguards of National Consultative Forum midlands leader Sifiso Nkabinde, who was expelled from the African National Congress in April. Fighting between the two parties has since left at least nine people dead. The ANC routed Nkabinde in a local government by-election in Richmond in July.
Police on the scene of Monday morning’s shooting claimed Nkabinde was informed of the incident because it apparently occurred near his house in Magoda. Nkabinde was allegedly seen with Dlamini after the shooting. Dlamini has not been seen since, and Nkabinde on Tuesday morning denied any knowledge of the incident.