The Speaker of the Raymond Mhlaba Local Municipality at Fort Beaufort in the Eastern Cape had received death threats before she was gunned down late on Monday night.
This was revealed by the ANC provincial secretary, Oscar Mabuyane, who said that councillor, Thozama Njobe, was at the ANC's policy conference when the threat was made.
Police said Njobe was shot several times in the upper body while she and another person were driving from a gathering in New Town in Fort Beaufort at around 10.40pm
She died en route to hospital.
Mabuyane said the ANC in the Eastern Cape was shocked at Njobe's murder, particularly as it came when the country's celebrating international Mandela Day.
He also lashed out at the police, accusing them failing to act on the death threats which he said had been reported to the local police station.
"The threats that were reported was that a certain person came in to her office to disclose this plot of assasination. She was in Johannesburg then in the (ANC) policy conference and that matter was reported to the police station there. So, we thought that police should not have rested on their laurels when they received news like these, at least something should have been done," he said.
"Unfortunately, she (Njobe) never even got a call from police to follow up on this matter as per the information," Mabuyane said.
In a short statement the SAPS in the Eastern Cape have no record of any criminal case opened by the Njobe. The Provincial Commissioner was shocked by the murder of Ms Njobe and a special task team consisting of seasoned detectives has been established to investigate the murder.
Eastern Cape Cooperative Governance MEC, Fikile Xasa, said he had learnt with sadness of the “cruel murder of Councillor Thozama Njobe”.
“We condemn this as a senseless killing hence we call on police to follow up on all possible leads to arrest the culprits. Similarly we encourage members of the community to assist the police with any information that can lead to a successful investigation and prosecution of the perpetrators,” said Xasa said.
The SA Local Government Association in the Eastern Cape also expressed shock at Njobe’s murder.
“SALGA strongly condemns the violent killing of the Speaker of Raymond Mhlaba council and urge state security authorities to leave no stone unturned until the perpetrators have been brought to book,” the statement said.
