Family still waiting for Magaqa autopsy outcome

Sindiso Magaqa's family are still waiting for the result of his autopsy to determine exactly why he died on Monday.

"We haven't got the results yet. We are still waiting‚" said Hawks spokesman Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi on Friday morning.

Magaqa's uncle‚ Vuma Magaqa‚ said the family was also waiting for the results. He said Magaqa's mom had collapsed after hearing about her son's death on Monday. She was discharged from hospital on Wednesday‚ but hadn't recovered sufficiently for the funeral to take place as planned this weekend.

Magaqa was shot on July 13 in an ambush in the Ibisi village outside Umzimkhulu‚ a violence-riddled town in southern KwaZulu-Natal.

Magaqa and two councillor colleagues from the Umzimkhulu Municipality - who are still in hospital recovering from their injuries - were set upon by two men who shot into their vehicle more than a dozen times.

Police have said the attempted murder case has been upgraded to murder and confirmed that they were investigating allegations that Magaqa might have been poisoned. The claims were reportedly made by senior ANC and KZN government officials.

Close friends said they were surprised that Magaqa had died on Monday because his health seemed to have improved.

Meanwhile‚ Mulaudzi said police were still waiting for positive confirmation that two gangsters were the same men being sought for the hit on Magaqa and his colleagues. One of the suspects was shot to death and the other severely injured in a shootout with police after a foiled cash-in-transit heist in Durban last week.

"We are still waiting to confirm. Of course‚ that doesn't mean that we have stopped investigating. Nothing stops us‚" he said.