SHOOTING – An African National Congress councillor was shot dead and his wife seriously wounded when a gunman opened fire on their car in the northern KwaZulu-Natal town of Nongoma.
Police spokeswoman Lieutenant Nqobile Gwala said the 50-year-old Bhekithemba “Thami” Goodwill Nyembe and his wife were shot at while driving in the Emasundwini area of Nongoma.
According to an ANC statement released late Monday, the two were critically injured on the Maphophoma Road and then rushed to hospital where PR councillor Nyembe was declared dead.
His wife was in a critical condition in hospital and Gwala said that police in Nongoma were investigating a case of murder and attempted murder.
Gwala said that the motive for the attack was not known. However, in the ANC statement, party spokesman Mdumiseni Ntuli said: “While the details of Cde Nyembe’s killing are still sketchy at this stage, the manner in which the attack was carried out raises strong questions about the killing being premeditated.”
In the 2011 local government elections, Nyembe, who was then a member of the Inkatha Freedom Party, won ward 10, with 54 percent of the vote.
In 2013 he jumped ship and joined the ruling ANC and in a subsequent by-election on October 23, 2013, the National Freedom Party claimed the ward with a three vote margin over Nyembe.
The NFP had split from the Inkatha Feedom Party three months before the 2011 local government elections. It was not immediately known when Nyembe became a PR councillor.
Ntuli said that the ANC had made major inroads in the area since Nyembe had joined the party.
“Cde Nyembe is among a number of comrades who bravely joined the ANC when it was a matter of life and death to be an ANC member or supporter in KwaNongoma. Cde Nyembe has been in forefront, giving hope to the masses of our people that our movement, the ANC is the only one that can change their lives.”
Nyembe is the second ANC councillor to be killed in as many months, with councillor Zodwa Sibiya being killed in Durban’s notorious Glebelands Hostels last month.
The Democratic Aliance’s KwaZulu-Natal leader Zwakele Mncwango said the party extended condolences to Nyembe’s family, friends and colleagues.
“Killings of public representatives is becoming a trend in KZN. We call on the police and to move swiftly to apprehend the perpetrators,” said Mncwango.
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