Johannesburg - The DA wants Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Pravin Gordhan to answer before Parliament for the lawlessness unfolding at Mogalakwena local municipality in Limpopo.
DA MP Beyers Smit said Gordhan should tell the National Council of Provinces when he will restore stability to the violence-ridden municipality.
He also wants Gordhan to explain why the recommendations of the KPMG forensic report relating to R1.5 million that went missing were not being implemented.
The official opposition was reacting to Tuesday’s shooting of Eric Gwangwa, the former mayor of Waterberg district municipality, on the local council premises in Mokopane.
It was thought that Gwangwa was shot in the leg, but Mokopane police spokeswoman Constable Mmadikgale Masingi said he was hit by a bullet in the buttocks.
She said police recovered several cartridges from the scene.
“We were told that some had been picked up before we arrived,” Masingi said.
The police said a case of attempted murder was being investigated and no arrest had been made.
Masingi would not comment on whether the gunman who shot Gwangwa was known.
Earlier, municipal spokesman Malesela Selokela said he had heard seven gunshots.
Gwangwa was recuperating in hospital.
On the same day, police arrested a security guard who had fired a warning shot when a rowdy crowd broke down the municipality’s gate and forced its way onto the council premises. He has been charged with reckless discharging of a firearm in public.
“He was arrested and released on bail of R500. His next court appearance is on September 26,” she said.
Masingi said the guard’s case was not related to Gwangwa’s shooting.
Gwangwa was shot after the crowd had entered the municipal premises.
The municipality said earlier Gwangwa was shot near the council chamber.
Selokela said the former mayor was among a disruptive group that forcibly entered the council premises before the shooting.
Six other people, among them Sam Montane a councillor at Mogalakwena, were arrested for damaging the municipal gate.
They appeared in court on Wednesday and were released on warning. The case was postponed to September 26, Masingi added.
Some of the central figures in the Mogalakwena mayhem are former ANC mayor Tlhalefi Mashamaite and chief whip David Langa.
They had been implicated in the KPMG probe in the alleged R1.5m corruption activity.
Twenty-two ANC councillors teamed up with opposition colleagues and removed the two men from their top positions.
The Star