'Don't move': Councillor describes attack by AK47-toting men

"Don't move. Things are bad."

These were the chilling words of former ANC Youth League secretary-general Sindiso Magaqa seconds before AK47 bullets ripped into the car in which he and two colleagues were sitting outside a shop in Umzimkhulu, KwaZulu-Natal, in July.

Councillor Jabulile Msiya recounted on Wednesday the moments before the shooting on that fateful evening when she, Magaqa and Councillor Nontsikelelo Mafa were attacked. She was giving evidence at the Moerane Commission of Inquiry into political violence in the province. Magaqa died in hospital in September. Msiya and Mafa were wounded.

Msiya said the trio saw two gun-toting men approaching them just before they were sprayed with bullets.

She said they had left a meeting and had stopped at an Ibisi bus stop, "a place teeming with activities, like a carwash and fast-food outlets".

She said they changed cars. Magaqa and Mafa were already in the car and she sat in the back seat. A woman member of the youth league who was with them said she was hungry and Magaqa gave her money to buy chips.

"He asked his bodyguard to accompany her to buy the fries," she said.

It was soon after they left that the gun-wielding assassins came onto the scene.

"I saw them shooting him [Magaqa] in the front seat. I was shot as well. So was Councillor Mafa." Msiya said: "I prayed to God to be with us and I couldn't believe we were being shot."

Although struck by bullets, Msiya managed to call for help. They were rushed to hospital.

"I was afraid the assailants would follow us to finish us off. I was relieved when police came to the hospital," she said, adding that they have repeatedly asked for protection.