‘Stalker’ terrorises councillor
Allegations of plot ‘to make me quit’
ANC councillor Saroj Govender says she is being terrorised by a mysterious stalker who wants her to quit the party’s Phoenix branch.
She says that after more than a year of receiving threatening phone calls and being followed, she now fears her life is in grave danger after a gun was pointed at her outside her home last week.
Afraid that the gunman would shoot her, Govender, who was in her idling Toyota Fortuner SUV at the time, says she accidentally pressed the accelerator and crashed into a wall.
Rattled
The mystery vehicle with dark tinted windows sped off.
A rattled Govender, a proportional representative (PR) councillor in ward 49, said this was the second time she had been followed, after a similar incident last November.
Then, too, she had crashed her vehicle after panicking.
“After last Monday’s episode, I know this is not a coincidence,” she said.
“I have been a PR councillor since 2011, and when it comes to tackling community issues, I am vocal. I correct what is wrong and as a result I am not liked by certain individuals.”
Govender, who has been on sick leave since last Monday, told POST that in the past year:
Her vehicle had been broken into and scratched, and a tyre punctured.
Someone had stuffed animal intestines in the SUV.
A property of hers in the area had been vandalised.
Govender, who turned 50 last month, said she had become even more “panicky” since the latest incident.
“Now and again I fear for my life and I get emotional, but I am a normal human being. I have consulted with a doctor and am on sick leave because I have flashbacks of the gun being pointed at me.”
The mother of three said regardless of intimidation tactics, she would not quit her job.
Relating her latest experience, she said a white vehicle with tinted windows had been following her Toyota and attempted to overtake it on Weycroft Avenue, Longcroft, near her home, on Monday last week. She had been driving home around noon from a community event.
After she pulled over outside her garage, a man exited the car and pointed a firearm at her, she said, adding that it sped off after she crashed into a wall.
According to Govender, she has been receiving threatening phone calls for more than a year.
“A male with a gruff voice has been calling my home from a private number, swearing at me and demanding I quit the Phoenix branch of the ANC. He said that if I valued my life, I must keep away,” she said.
“He then started calling my husband and asking him if he knew where I was. He said I was having an affair. My husband knew this was a lie. It reached a stage where the man called at odd hours during the night and we began disconnecting the calls.
“But in November last year, everything came to a head when a car tried to overtake my vehicle in Phoenix. It had no registration plate and had tinted windows. It tailed my vehicle for several kilometres. I was only able to lose it when I drove into a garage.”
Govender, whose vehicle had hit a concrete basin and precast wall at the garage’s car wash, was unable to recall whether it was the same car that had tailed her last week.
She said she had spoken to regional and provincial ANC members about what transpired and reported the incidents to the police.
Bodyguards
Asked if the ANC had provided her with bodyguards, Govender said it had not.
She has instead employed the services of a private security company, VIP Protection Services, to escort her home at night.
Regional ANC secretary Bheki Ntshangase said nothing could be done as Govender had not lodged a formal complaint about the incidents. Govender said she was not informed that she needed to do this.
Police confirmed that last week’s incident had been reported.
Spokesman Colonel Jay Naidoo said no arrests had been made.