A Buffalo City Metro councillor is living in fear for his life and his family after receiving a death threat linked to a motion he filed with the council.
DA councillor Mawethu Kosani has opened a case with the police after he received an envelope with a picture of him and his daughter with two bullets taped onto it.
Kosani told DispatchLIVE the letter had been sent to his family home in Qonce on Wednesday and he had found it bundled in with his other mail.
He opened it unsuspectingly, but nearly fell down when he saw its contents.
A third bullet was taped onto a message warning him to withdraw the motion he filed with the council.
A copy of the motion also accompanies the note and the picture.
The motion relates to the appointment process of ANC WB Rubusana regional spokesperson Vuyo Jali as a senior manager at the property disposal department in the city.
Kosani has vowed to follow through with the motion.
Jali has distanced himself from the whole matter, including the motion to be discussed in council, saying he followed all the requirements when applying for the post.
The motion questions the appointment process of the ANC leader because the advert for the job was circulated in January but the appointment was made only in June.
The city is scheduled to discuss the motion late next month. In the note written to him, he is warned to withdraw the motion by October 28.
“I give you up until 28th of October 2022 to withdraw the motion you have submitted in the office of the acting city manager and the speaker.
“If you continue to ignore this just know it very well that we are aware of your beautiful daughters [names withheld].
“If you want to continue to be a councillor and have your family around you, do the right thing. Your countdown just started,” reads the note.
It also mentions his home address, the registration and the make of his vehicle.
Kosani said he had gone straight to the police station to open a case after he opened the envelope and found out what was inside.
“I am afraid because I have never received such things, I only see them on TV, but when it’s happening to me, especially when someone has a photo of me, which I don’t know how they got, it means something else and it means we are operating in a cruel society.
“I am more worried about my family, my kids, my daughters.
“I may not be worried that much [for myself] but once it has to do with my daughters. It’s something else, that’s my concern,” he said.
He said he did not take lightly the fact that the people threatening him even knew the names of his daughters, who live with their mothers.
Kosani said he did not want to speculate about who was behind the threats, but had confidence the police would get to the bottom of the matter.
He said his family had expressed concern over his safety as well, given the recent incident in which the vehicle of Buffalo City Metro infrastructure director and acting city manager Nceba Ncunyana was shot at in East London.
“My concern is about the person who has sent those hooligans.
“I want to know who sent them because surely there is a person behind this thing,” he said.
He said he was surprised by the reaction of ANC councillors in their last meeting when the council initially received the questions he had filed.
The council had decided that it would deal with the matter when it received a report on October 28.
Council speaker Humphrey Maxhegwana confirmed his knowledge of the incident, saying Kosani had kept him updated on the matter.
“I was happy that he went to the police. A matter of that nature needs to be reported to the police, which he did.
“According to a message he sent to me, the police are investigating.
“As the speaker I am concerned, as I would be for all councillors, because the office of the speaker is where all councillors account to.
“It’s my concern because indeed motions are part of the work of councillors.
“It’s concerning that when people are doing their work, they get such threats, not knowing where they come from,” said Maxhegwana.
Police spokesperson Warrant Officer Majola Nkohli confirmed that a case had been opened on the matter.
“Police can confirm that they are investigating a case of intimidation, after a local councillor alleged that he received an envelope with bullets at his home in Sweetwaters outside Qonce yesterday.
“On Wednesday at about 7am, it is alleged that a complainant went to his home to collect his post, and inside one of the envelopes he found a threatening message with bullets stuck to the photos of himself and his children.
“Police are following all leads, but there are no arrests at this stage. The investigation is continuing,” said Nkohli.
Jali said he did not want to comment further on the matter, and he had not been informed about the criminal case.
“I don’t even want to hear it, I am not even interested, as long as I know that when I was being hired, I followed the right processes.
“Anything else, I am not involved. Even what they are asking [on the motion] does not worry me because I followed all the processes.
“They didn’t do their research ... if they did their research, they would see.
“Whoever sent that should not have. They should have let it go to council,” he said.
DA provincial leader, Nqaba Bhanga, said Kosani wrote him a letter informing him about the incident. “It’s a very concerning issue and the PEC is discussing it,” he said.
Bhanga said public representatives of the DA will not back down because of intimidation by criminals.
“The state and the police must do their work and make sure the law takes its course,” he said.
DispatchLIVE
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