Pretoria - Charges have been laid against DA ward councillor Piet Fourie for allegedly abducting and beating up a resident of the Malusi 2 (Gomora) informal settlement in Pretoria West.
James Mojela, 55, said he spent two months in hospital after the alleged assault by Fourie and security guards employed by a company in Derdepoort, where the councillor is the operations manager.
Tshwane mayoral committee member Nozipho Tyobeka-Makeke - in her capacity as ANC shadow councillor for the area - said Mojela could barely speak when she visited him in hospital.
However, Fourie described the allegations as “nonsense”. He said he knew nothing about the alleged abduction and assault. Neither did he witness the incident, he said.
Fourie said he was aware that Mojela spent a long time in hospital, but did not know what he was suffering from.
Mojela, a security guard at a development site by a company that Fourie works for, had not gone to work due to illness. He claimed Fourie had pitched up at his shack with three security guards just after 10am, as a friend was preparing to take him to hospital. Under the command of Fourie, the men handcuffed and searched him in front of his wife, Bertha. He was pushed into a bakkie driven by the councillor, which headed towards the Kameel-drift offices of the security company.
“They kicked me, slapped me in the face and pushed me around. They insisted I had to tell them the truth. I had no idea what truth they were referring to,” Mojela said.
“They told me that since I said I was sick, they would beat the illness out of me. At about 2pm I was forced back into the bakkie and driven back to the site where I work. “Fourie told me I had to phone a friend who took me to hospital.”
Mojela laid charges at the Hercules police station a few days ago, after his discharge from hospital.
Piet Sono, a ward committee member, claimed Mojela’s sin was his refusal to join the DA. He accused Fourie of recruiting members for the city’s official opposition and thereafter giving them jobs.
Fourie said he spread the word when contractors looked for workers but he had no authority to employ anyone. “There is nothing political about this. As for recruiting members for the DA, this is my duty as a representative of the party.”
Gert Pretorius, DA leader in the council, said the party would comment only after the outcome of the case.
Pretoria News