MEC launches attack on cops

Mpumalanga human settlements MEC Madala Masuku has submitted a scathing letter to Premier David Mabuza and safety and security MEC Sibongile Manana, accusing police of "serious distortions" in how his attack was reported, and of unprofessional conduct in handling his case.

Masuku narrowly escaped death last month when four thugs brandishing R5 assault rifles fired five rounds at his official vehicle travelling on the N4 highway near Delmas. One bullet hit the window frame near his head.

In a formal report submitted on Friday, Masuku also complained that two weeks after the incident, he had yet to receive "feedback and [a] debriefing as to the meaning of the attack".

He wanted to know whether the attack had led to a reassessment of his safety, and whether this was something "I should worry about or not and what the state suggests must be done".

Speaking for the first time after the attack, in an exclusive interview with the Sunday Times, Masuku said on Friday that provincial police spokesman Captain Leonard Hlathi had misled the public about several details of the attack.

Hlathi said the attackers had "made off with 6 cellphones and numerous firearms", Masuku said.

"In actual fact, no phone was taken, but only the key of the car and one pistol."

Reliving the harrowing moments that almost cost him his life when a BMW pulled up next to his vehicle, Masuku also refuted Hlathi's assertion that his bodyguards had not yielded to the blue-light warning issued by his attackers, and that he had identified himself to them as the human settlements MEC.

"I saw a passenger on the back seat take out a flashlight and shine it onto the back window. Then I saw the guy in front was holding an R5. He started winding down the window. Bullets began to fly with no warning given as the vehicle put on blue police lights," Masuku said.

He found out later that one bullet had missed him "by an inch".

Three men jumped out of the car, claiming to be police looking for drug dealers.

"They said, 'we are going to shoot you in the head'," Masuku said.

After an altercation with Masuku's police bodyguards, they left with one of their pistols and the car keys. Minutes later Delmas police arrived on the scene and took the victims to the local station to take statements. In line with official protocol, Hlathi never once identified himself as an MEC, he said.

Masuku said the motive of the attack remains a mystery, and said this is why Hlathi's statement that it was a robbery puzzles him.

"My first reaction was that this is criminal. But, when they insisted on wanting to know who the VIP was, it didn't make sense. Why would you go for the passenger?"

Masuku declined to speculate on whether the attack was linked to factional battles in a province where several political leaders have died in mysterious circumstances.

Hlathi admitted he had conveyed factual inaccuracies about the attack based on false information he'd received from Delmas police.

"After I got the right info I communicated it to media houses and tried to ask them to correct the previous misinformation I gave them."