Durban - The Hawks in KwaZulu-Natal are investigating an intricate alleged “assassination attempt” on the ANC’s Musa Dladla (Richards Bay) region chairman, Thulani Mashaba.
Sources in the party say the alleged plot to kill Mashaba emanated from intra-party battles for succession in the provincial leadership.
The region is the second-largest in the province, after eThekwini, with 99 wards.
Mashaba confirmed the investigation in an interview on Monday. “It’s nothing new”. He said it had been going on since August.
The Hawks investigation is said to have taken a dramatic twist last week when an alleged “hit man” was shot and killed in a fierce gun battle in Hluluwe.
Mashaba said: “I think it’s now the third attempt. It started last year when two heavily armed people broke into my house while I was asleep and stole my documents and left everything else. There was then a fire which I managed to escape.
“The provincial leadership knows.”
He said he received a call from police letting him know that they were “pursuing some people who have been paid to hurt me”.
“The Hawks are dealing with the matter. I understand that police chased some suspects and there was a gunfight somewhere in Hluhluwe where one of them was shot dead,” he said.
Meanwhile, ANC president Jacob Zuma will lead the party’s top six in eThekwini on Tuesday as they intervene in the stand-off in the region, that has seen an elective conference nullified and cancelled on numerous occasions since last year.
The meeting has resulted in the city’s weekly executive committee meeting being called off and a provincial legislature sitting, both scheduled for Tuesday, cancelled.
The Mercury