Police are examining security footage after the ANC’s deputy chairperson of the Gert Sibande municipality-Muzi Manyathi was shot and killed at a fuel station in Mkhondo, Mpumalanga.
Manyathi was shot and killed outside a fuel station on Friday night at around 18:30, and it is now known that he was shot multiple times at close range.
Manyathi was also a PR councillor in the Mkhondo Local Municipality.
According to Colonel Donald Mdhluli, the provincial police spokesperson, the suspects were tailing Manyathi at the petrol station.
He said a Mercedes-Benz occupied by two people was seen in the vicinity when the shooting occurred.
“One of the male occupants came out of the said vehicle armed with a firearm and allegedly shot at the victim multiple times at close range before fleeing the scene with the Mercedes Benz.”
Piet Retief police and paramedics were alerted but Manathi was declared dead on arrival. No arrests have been made following the deadly shooting incident.
The car was found abandoned next to a dam. Mdhluli said preliminary investigation indicated that the vehicle’s registration plates were not authentic, and that the car had been reported stolen in April 2022 in Brakpan, Gauteng.
Meanwhile, the ANC said it is shocked to learn of the killing of Manyathi.
“The Mpumalanga ANC is calling for the swift arrest of the perpetrators of this heinous crime. We are calling on all ANC members to exercise restraint and allow the Law Enforcement Agencies to perform their duties without any hinderance.”
“It does appear to be a case of assassination…as the ANC in the Gert Sibanda region, we are calling for calm and for restraint from the general membership of the congress movement,” said Xolani Shozi, the ANC’s Gert Sibanda regional chairperson.
Source: Times Live, News24, The Citizen, Eyewitness News, Jacaranda FM, image from Twitter: @ApostoleDeza