LEONARD NDZHUKULA, Nelspruit | Sunday 7.00pm.
THE African National Congress has accused police of direct complicity in the assassination of a senior party leader and the poisoning of another in Mpumalanga last week after officers allegedly ignored desperate pleas from the party for protection.
Police confirmed they were aware of the allegations on Friday but declined to say whether the ANC had warned that its Mbuzini chairman, Saul Samuel Shabangu, was the target of an assassination plot. Provincial ANC executive spokesman and provincial transport MEC, Jackson Mthembu, said that senior party leaders had made a number of direct appeals to the police for both protection and preemptive investigations — all of which were ignored.
Shabangu died in Mbuzini near Komatipoort last Sunday, when an AK-47 wielding sniper shot him once in the forehead while he was meeting with other ANC leaders in his house. The 42-year-old struggle veteran was ironically appealing for increased security at the time, after surviving an apparent poisoning attempt the day before.
The attacks were reportedly sparked by a fierce power-struggle between local ANC structures and regional traditional leaders for control of Mbuzini’s agricultural land.
Mthembu said police had been given until Wednesday to explain why they had been “criminally negligent”. If Gaobepe failed to explain himself by Wednesday, Mthembu said the ANC would lodge formal complaints with national police authorities and would begin campaigning for criminal charges against him. Mpumalanga safety and security MEC, Luckson Mathebula, confirmed on Friday that he had ordered a full investigation into Gaobepe’s handling of the case. — African Eye News Service