Mayor’s bodyguard revs up a storm
Victim Lumkwana still suffers from injuries
ABODYGUARD and driver of Buffalo City Metro mayor, Xola Pakati, is a convicted criminal, who has already been sentenced to six years imprisonment for attempted murder.
Constable Athini Mlawu, 35, is employed by the municipality and responsible for the security and transport of the executive mayor.
This despite an East London magistrate ordering that his driver’s licence be suspended for 18months.
Mlawu’s conviction and sentence emanate from a February 2011 incident, where he was punched to the ground by Anele Tshaku during a brawl over a woman at a tavern in Duncan Village.
The East London Regional Court heard during his 2014 trial, how Mlawu recovered from the punch outside Nolili’s tavern, got into his Toyota sedan and drove home to fetch his service firearm before returning to the tavern.
He was later arrested by Duncan Village police detectives, when he drove over resident Yonela Lumkwana in a fit of rage after mistaking him for Tshaku.
During his trial, Pakati’s bodyguard referred to Tshaku as “a snake in the grass”.
He was found guilty and sentenced in December 2014.
The sentence was handed down by regional court magistrate Ignatius Kitching.
Kitching heard that after being struck by the vehicle, Lumkwana was pinned down and dragged for 5m underneath the front of the Toyota, while lying on his back.
The incident left Lumkwana with a fractured right shoulder, resulting in him losing his job as a security guard.
Handing down judgment Kitching said: “Lumkwana described how the accused drove his vehicle towards him where he was standing on a gravelled pavement next to the street.
“He had first heard a voice from inside the vehicle saying ‘here is this s**t. The vehicle was then standing still, the headlights were put on bright, the engine was revved high and the vehicle accelerated in his direction.
“He was knocked off and dragged underneath the car. It came to a stop when the car crashed into the wall of a tavern.
“A passenger from the accused’s vehicle, got out, looked at [Lumkwana] underneath the vehicle and exclaimed ‘no, this is not the one we are looking for’. This man helped him out from the underneath the vehicle,” Kitching said. He said the accident was witnessed by Tshaku, 37, who was the real target.
In his defence, Mlawu said he bumped into Lumkwana after the former jumped in front of his car in a state of drunkenness.
However, Kitching dismissed that version because the accused could not explain why he had visited the victim’s home the next day to apologise, if he [Mlawu] believed was not the cause of Lumkwana being run over.
“The court is satisfied that the state proved beyond reasonable doubt that you in fact tried to injure and kill the complainant with your vehicle and therefore you are found guilty,” Kitching ruled.
Lumkwana said the accident had caused permanent damage to his right shoulder and that he was on chronic pain medication.
The unemployed father of three said yesterday: “I still see him driving the mayor around and he has no sympathy. For him it’s like he drove over and injured a dog. I cannot find work because of him.”
BCM spokeswoman Bathandwa Diamond said BCM was aware of Mlawu’s conviction but the municipality’s hands were tied as he had since appealed the outcome.
“The matter is under judicial consideration pending the outcome of the due legal process following an application for a leave to appeal by Mr Athini Malawu making the matter Diamond said. —