ANC MAN SURVIVES ‘POLITICAL KILLING’

Shots fired at would-be councillor through gate

ANOTHER ANC candidate in the upcoming elections escaped sudden death after several gunshots were fired at him as he arrived home from a meeting.

Nkosinathi Gambu, an ANC candidate for ward 10 at KwaPata area near Pietermaritzburg in KwaZuluNatal, survived several gunshots at his home on Tuesday night.

Gambu was saved by hiding behind his vehicle.

Gambu’s brush with death followed the murder of two ANC candidates in KZN on Monday.

Police confirmed that Gambu was nearly killed, and that an attempted murder case has been opened at Mbali police station.

“He was shot through the gate on his way to close the gate after arriving home from an ANC meeting. The suspect is still at large and the matter is currently being investigated,” provincial police spokesman Major Thulani Zwane said.

Bongani Skhosana, 41, the ANC candidate for ward 1 in the Umuziwabantu municipality, was gunned down by unknown people on Monday morning at his Santombe homestead near Harding on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast.

In another incident, Khanyisile Ngobese-Sibisi, also died on Monday after she was ambushed by an unknown gunman.

The deceased, an ANC candidate in ward 20, was travelling along Centenary Road in Ladysmith when the attacker opened fire on her with an assault rifle.

Hawks spokesman Simphiwe Mhlongo said they were not ruling out the possibility that the killing could be politically motivated.

“We appeal to every community member who knows something to come forward with information in order to curb the scourge of the killing of politicians.”

Also, ANC chairwoman in the notorious uMgungundlovu region, Nonhlanhla Khumalo, was attacked while watching television with her children at home last week. Balaclava-wearing men fired several shots at her house. Khumalo and her children survived the attack.

Political killings have claimed more than 50 lives in the country since 2011. KZN has the highest rate.