An apparent attempt to assassinate the leader of the ANCYL in the Nkangala region has raised question marks after four high ranking ANC officials said they didn’t see it, were neither aware of it nor was a case of attempted murder opened with cops.
Earlier 013NEWS was told that a man apparently hired to slay Nkangala ANCYL regional chairman Mduduzi ‘Mswati’ Nkosi ran away after he was unable to murder him.
Mswati was one of scores of local, regional and provincial leaders of the ANC and its alliance partners and community members who attended the funeral of MKMVA provincial executive committee member Thami Khumalo on Saturday morning at eMalahleni’s Hlalanikahle township in Mpumalanga.
Khumalo died a week ago of illness and was buried at the Kromdraai cemetery on the same Saturday mid-day.
013NEWS, on Saturday evening, was told that while they were standing at the graveyard waiting for Khumalo’s body to go down, a man, wearing a balaclava and what looked like MKMVA camouflage, stood near Mswati and was seen by “other comrades” taking out a fire-arm and preparing to point it at Mswati.
According to the information, the man had been waiting for the gun shot salutes in order to slay Mswati.
Mswati had confirmed this, saying he was missed three times during this funeral – with his friend, Ackerville ward 10 branch chairman Masheleni Nkosi and a businessman, identified as Victor Nkosi, saying they became suspicious of the man wearing a balaclava and standing near Mswati.
“When he was preparing to take out the pistol we alarmed the chairperson,” Masheleni told the 013NEWS reporter on Saturday, over the phone.
“He then ran away,” Masheleni said, adding they didn’t chase him “because we knew the attempt had to do with the upcoming regional congress and they know the chairperson will emerge again”.
The controversial regional league leader wants a second term as chairman of the league in the region and wants to do this through what he says is “maintaining unity”.
However if a strategy of unhappy members of the league, who accuse him of corruption and of being “parachuted” from another region, sees the light of day it could see him being replaced by his deputy and spokesman Tsekiso Machike.
Even so, there are worries that Mswati, whose popularity is waning, may manipulate congress processes in order to emerge again.
Regional ANC secretary Leah Khoza and spokesman Sello Matshoga said they were not aware of a situation involving an attempt on Mswati’s life.
League spokesman Machike, who was not at the funeral, said he was “not aware of this”. He promised to ‘enquire’ about it late on Saturday but then chose not to comment afterwards.
Khoza, whose car is said to have been used to transport Mswati to “a place of safety” after the seemingly failed attempt to target and gun him down, said:
“The funeral was too big I shared a transport with another car due to traffic. [I] Am not aware if the chair of the YL in the region cde Mduduzi Nkosi was attacked. He could have used my car with other comrades as we were all sharing cars due to high volume of traffic. That’s all I know and a police case has not been opened against such allegations “.
(edited by MLM)
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