Johannesburg - Chris Nkosi, the Gauteng secretary of the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union, had had a number of threats on his life before he was gunned down in Germiston, east of Johannesburg.
Unionists believe it may have been an assassination.
There were four bullet holes on Nkosi’s side of the car and he was shot after his bodyguards had retired for the night.
Gauteng police spokesman Lungelo Dlamini, who would not name the driver as is police procedure, said Nkosi had been shot in the head and chest.
It is believed his attackers were driving a BMW.
But the possibility of an arrest soon seems unlikely because the only eye-witness at the scene did not take down the registration number of the car.
Police spent much of the night combing the scene for evidence.
Satawu general secretary Zenzo Mahlangu told Independent Media there had been a number of threats on Nkosi’s life for some time. The most recent was an anonymous email.
“Last week he got an email that said: ‘We know where you work, we know where you stay, we know what time you leave the office... We know about your family in Mpumalanga and we will come after them one after one’,” Mahlangu said.
The general secretary believes the threats are politically motivated.
“We have a congress that’s coming... It could be a number of things.”
Mahlangu, who was devastated, said he had spoken to Nkosi just minutes before he was murdered.
Cosatu president S’dumo Dlamini told Independent Media that police had to do their best to find the killers.
“A leader of a union has been taken and we call for the law to takes its course and for a thorough investigation so the perpetrators are brought to book,” he said.
Labour Bureau