Two African National Congress activists were killed and another injured after being abducted from a late night church service at Mqedandaba, near Estcourt in KwaZulu-Natal, ANC provincial spokesperson Mtholephi Mthimkhulu said on Saturday.
He said Nkosinathi Dladla and Zakhe Mfuphi were shot dead while Bongani Ngcobo was left with injuries after the attack. Dladla, Mfuphi and Ngcobo were ANC activists, not party agents as Thami Mazibuko, an ANC councillor, had reported.
Mazibuko earlier told Sapa that two of the three men were ANC party agents.
KwaZulu-Natal police spokesperson Director Bala Naidoo confirmed the murders without being able to give details of the church. He said an investigation into the death of the three men was underway.
Mazibuko, an ANC councillor for Mbabazane, said a fourth member who had also been abducted from the church late on Friday night, was missing. It was not clear who had abducted and killed the men, he said.
Mthimkhulu said the ANC was not in a position to confirm that a fourth person was missing after being abducted.
When told that the information was reported to Sapa by Mazibuko, Mthimkhulu responded: ”That is what we are correcting. We have since discovered that they were not party agents.” – Sapa