Slain Samwu officials remembered

MEC for Community Safety in Limpopo, Makoma Makhurupetje says police have made progress in the fatal shooting of two Samwu senior members. The Samwu officials, Ronald Mani and union Acting National President Timson Musetsho, were shot and killed in separate incidents in Thohoyandou. They were vocal against municipal authorities having spent millions of public funds in the now liquidated mutual bank, VBS.

Hundreds of people from various provinces attended a joint memorial service for the two Samwu members.

Speaking during the memorial service at the Makhuvha Stadium outside Thohoyandou, Makhurupetje says government will not surrender authorities to criminals. She, however, refused to confirm if there’s any arrest made.

“Government will not surrender its authority to criminals. We cannot have a situation where leaders continue to run away from their families. Indeed, there’s a lot of progress and in a short space of time we will see the criminals with our own eyes.”

The bereaved families of the two slain Samwu officials call on the ANC Vhembe region to take a strong stance against corruption. The son of Ronald Mani, Hulisani, says the ANC members must not serve factions, but the people of Vhembe.

“Comrades, I have a message for the ANC, specifically Vhembe region; you need to decide whether you are serving your faction that elected you or your serving the interest of Vhembe, because if you are true to the cause, you’re not going to put those people who are implicated in any corruption to be MMC. My father had no fear. We are going to stand here with courage and confront the enemy, but as society, we need to unite.”

ANC Provincial Secretary Soviet Lekganyane says if they find that some people who were involved in the killing of Mani and Musetsho are ANC members, the party will deal with it in its own way.

“If these things were political and people think that they will get political position for killing them, they will never get those political positions. There’s no political position which will be acquired out of killing of other comrades. It can’t happen. If we find that among the culprits they are members of the ANC, we, as the ANC, we also have a way in which we deal with our own members who can’t conduct themselves properly.”

Municipal workers have described the two slain officials as heroes who were unflinching against corruption. The workers say the death of Mani and Musetsho is a great loss to the nation.

“He was really a strong politician. He was still growing in this politics. We feel it is disgraced and is great loss to the nation.”

“I feel devastated because I know all of them. They have been representing us in the district municipality. It is very painful what happened.”

Mani and Musetsho will be laid to rest on Saturday at the local cemetery in Mbaleni, outside Thohoyandou.