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Newcastle IFP mayor Xolani Dube. (Facebook)
- Newcastle IFP Mayor Xolani Dube's bodyguards were allegedly involved in shooting protesters.
- Protesters allegedly pelted Dube with objects and his bodyguards are accused of retaliating with gunshots, injuring three.
- The ANC in the Mbuso Kubheka region describe Dube's bodyguards as "trigger-happy".
Newcastle IFP Mayor Xolani Dube's bodyguards allegedly shot and wounded three people, including a woman, in a violent protest that culminated in protesters clashing with the mayor and his minders in Charlestown.
The incident took place in Ward 1 at the Newcastle Municipality, where protesters threw debris and barricaded roads in a service delivery protest last Wednesday. The community had been protesting against the lack of water services, which had occurred over a three-week period.
The KwaZulu-Natal police had not confirmed the incident at the time of writing.
Dube had apparently promised the protesters that services would be delivered, but they were having none of it, according to accounts by a victim's sister, two councillors and the ANC's regional leader.
Phumlani Binda, 19, was wounded by a bullet to the abdomen and is "in a critical condition" in hospital, according to his sister, Gqibelo Binda.
Binda said her brother was an innocent bystander.
"He is in a critical condition. He was shot even though he was not a part of the protest," she said.
READ | How 'dysfunctional' KZN municipality splurged R10m on bodyguards in 14 months
ANC Ward 1 councillor Ntombi Shabalala visited the three victims on Thursday morning.
"This came as a shock to all of us. The two victims are in hospital, while one is already back home," said Shabalala, adding that Dube had apparently been pelted with missiles.
Approached for comment, Dube would neither confirm nor deny the shooting. He said he was attending an integrated development plan (IDP) roadshow and promised to call News24 back, but he hadn't done so at the time of writing.
His comments will be added to the story when he responds.
Newcastle municipal manager Zamani Mcineka said: "The SAPS were on the scene. They're the relevant people to talk to. I cannot give a statement."
The municipality has not issued any statement.
ANC Mbuso Kubheka regional secretary Chris Mhlophe told News24 that the party had previously warned against the IFP leadership's bodyguards, whom he described as trigger-happy.
"We warned that something like this would happen. The IFP has gone back to its old days of violence," Mhlophe alleged.
He said Dube's bodyguards were not law enforcement and shouldn't have fired their weapons.
Mhlophe later issued a statement in which he said:
When the Newcastle mayor, Mr Xolani Dube, arrived [at the protest scene] with his well-known heavily armed bodyguards, the community continued to raise their frustrations but were surprisingly met by the barrel of a gun in response.
"In this incident, three community members were shot by Mr Xolani Dube's bodyguards and they were rushed to hospital in a critical condition," he said.
Mhlophe alleged that this wasn't an isolated incident where Dube's "bodyguards threaten, intimidate and assault people of Newcastle".
A report in the Newcastillian News on 10 May, quoted a Madadeni SAPS spokesperson saying the police were probing a case of malicious damage to property and the discharging of a firearm after an altercation with Dube’s bodyguards.
The incident allegedly occurred in Blaauwbosch on 18 April.
Mhlophe claimed that during an IDP/budget roadshow in Madadeni on 5 May "some members of the public and ANC leaders were assaulted by the very same bodyguards in their quest to instill fear in the community".
He called on police to act swiftly against Dube's bodyguards.
"South Africa has proper law enforcement agencies, who are trained and tasked to handle matters of conflict and crowd management. These bodyguards, who are paid through Newcastle taxpayers' money, are a threat and danger to society and they must be isolated from the peaceful community of Newcastle," Mhlophe said, adding that community members who witnessed the incident "were traumatised".
According to a report by the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, the Newcastle Municipality has a R7.1 million budget for bodyguards. It's unclear how much has been spent by the municipality.
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