Mayor of the uMhlathuze Municipality Xolani Ngwezi denies that there is tension between him and the city manager Nkosinye Zulu.
This follows an incident where two bodyguards, Ntokozo Mthembu and Simo Zulu, that protected the mayor and city manager respectively, died in a shooting incident in the municipal offices in Richards Bay on Thursday.
It’s alleged that Mthembu shot Zulu and was then shot dead by another bodyguard as he was trying to flee.
Ngwezi says there have been several attempts to resolve the dispute between the two men following an altercation in December.
” You know that they had an argument on that day. And we actually saw the argument as I was walking the CM and Mr Ngcobo out of my office. And after that I tried to phone, I actually contacted the DCM for community services, Mr Mhlongo, to actually intervene on the matter as I realized that the matter is ugly.”
Meanwhile, it has emerged that one of the bodyguards who have died in the shooting, Simo Zulu was the son of Zulu.
He was contracted to guard his father. The IFP’s KwaZulu-Natal chairperson Thami Ntuli says they were in the process of transferring Simo Zulu when the shooting took place.
“When I discovered there was a problem between the two bodyguards who had passed on, I spoke to the city manager wherein we were in agreement that maybe it was better that they’re not working on the same side. I think they were still on a arrangement to try and address that.”
