African National Congress deputy president Jacob Zuma condemned on Tuesday the murder of the Gauteng chairperson of the Friends of Jacob Zuma Trust.
Zobaphi Sithole was shot in Meadowlands, Soweto on Monday and died in hospital on Tuesday.
”I was shocked when I heard of Sithole’s shooting,” Zuma told his supporters outside the Pietermaritzburg High Court.
Sithole was the second Gauteng chairperson of the trust to die this year. Earlier this year George Nene was killed in car accident. Zuma said this raised suspicions but did not elaborate.
He sent his condolences to the Sithole family.
Congress of South African Trade Unions general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said the tripartite alliance condemned the killing.
”His killers will never kill all us,” Vavi said.
According to Sithole’s family he had received death threats over the phone before he was killed. He said Sithole was on his way to collect T-shirts in preparation for the Zuma corruption trial when he was shot.
South African Communist party general leader Blade Nzimande said those who killed Sithole must stop doing this ”because we don’t want to go back to the past”.
Earlier, Soweto police spokesperson Mbazima Shiburi said: ”The sketchy story we have so far is that the deceased took his car to the carwash. When he went to collect it at around 6.30pm [on Monday] he was attacked from behind by three unknown men.”
”Without saying a word they just started shooting.”
A 15-year-old boy walking in front of Sithole at the time was injured in the shooting.
”The deceased was shot in the neck and both victims were taken to Chris Hani-Baragwanath Hospital.”
He did not know the teenager’s condition.
A licensed firearm was found in Sithole’s possession.
Both Mohau and Shiburi declined to comment on the motive behind the attack.
Zuma appeared in the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Tuesday, accused of having accepted a R500 000 a year bribe from French arms manufacturer Thint.
This was allegedly in exchange for protection from a probe into South Africa’s controversial multibillion-rand arms deal.
Meanwhile, Zuma’s defence team is expected to resume argument against the state’s application for the trial to be postponed.
On Tuesday, advocate Wim Trengove, SC, had said the state would be ready to proceed with its case by October 15 when it would provide an amended indictment.
He also invited the defence teams of Zuma and his co-accused — the two Thint companies — to allow Judge Herbert Msimang to decide whether evidence seized in raids last year was admissible.
Trengove said the main reason the state wanted the adjournment was to allow the completion of legal challenges to search-and-seizure raids carried out by the Scorpions last August.
However Kemp J Kemp, SC, for Zuma, urged the judge to strike the case from the roll, saying the state could bring charges against Zuma again once it had its house in order.
More than 6 000 supporters packed Pietermaritzburg’s Freedom Square outside the court on Tuesday. After court proceedings adjourned Zuma sang his trademark song Leth ‘uMashini Wame (Bring Me My Machine Gun)”. Court proceedings are expected to begin at 10am on Wednesday. – Sapa