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Amathole District Municipal councillor’s house shot at

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The home of senior African National Congress Amathole District Municipality Councillor and Mayoral Committee Member, Nanziwe Rulashe, who made headlines last week when a video emerged of her being dragged out of the municipality offices, has now been shot at.

The incident happened in the early hours of Sunday morning. Police say unidentified suspects entered the yard and fired several shots through the window.

No injuries were reported. Police spokesperson Thembinkosi Kinana says the circumstances surrounding the incident are not known at this stage.

“The incident has allegedly taken place at the house of the councillor in the early hour of this morning. According to the information at our disposal, unidentified suspects arrived at the house and started firing several shots through the window.”

Kinana adds: “The owner, from the information we have, was not present at the house. Only children but no one was harmed because they were in other rooms1. The circumstances around the case are not known at this stage but we have opened a case of attempted murder and the investigation continues.”

Rulashe spoke to SABC News last week regarding her safety:

Amathole District Municipality councillor fears for her life following assault

Rulashe said she feared for her life following an assault by people purported to be the municipality’s security personnel. This after five accused charged with assault were on Monday night released from police custody in Cambridge, East London in the Eastern Cape, on R500 bail.

Rulashe says her understanding of the duties of the security officers employed by the municipality is to not only protect the property of the institution but also those that occupy the building, including her. Videos went viral on social media platforms showing her being dragged out of her office last week.

Rulashe alleges that her only transgression was to insist on doing things the proper way in an institution where she is a political principal, deployed as the Strategic Planning Portfolio Head. She says she is still traumatised by the incident.

“It has put my dignity to a level that I cannot even express. I was humiliated and I am not feeling good about it. I am really traumatized. I am not even fit to go to the offices because that’s my workplace and I was dragged out of those offices.”

“Gender-based violence”

The East London-based Masimanyane Women’s Rights International executive director Lesley Ann Foster says the disrespect that Rulashe experienced is the disrespect women experience in this country.

“In the time we are fighting gender-based violence, this type of violence is infuriating and intolerable. We are going to fight for justice for this woman. But I think there is a bigger problem here and that is how women are viewed within leadership structures of municipalities. We will call for a retraining of women and a review of the protocols and whatever else is there to strengthen the responses.”

VIDEO: [GRAPHIC CONTENT] ANC responds to Amathole councillor being dragged out of the office: Loyiso Magqashela

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