Durban — eThekwini Municipality has finally provided bodyguards for a ward 9 DA councillor after she survived assassination attempts.
Councillor Nonsikelelo Msomi had been in fear for her life after she was attacked while asleep at her Molweni home outside Hillcrest last month.
After pressure from the DA provincial leadership, which challenged the municipality’s decision to withdraw her bodyguards, the municipality has finally reinstated them.
Msomi confirmed to the Daily News on Sunday that the municipality had reinstated her protectors, but refused to give further details citing security reasons. She said she was feeling safer than before, and she was now able to do her work and could address public meetings without fearing for her life.
Municipality spokesperson Mluleki Mtungwa refused to discuss the matter, also citing security reasons, saying the municipality always treated the safety concerns of councillors with sensitivity, so he would not comment on the details regarding Msomi’s safety.
“Security issues are not discussed with the public, therefore I would not want to comment on our councillor’s safety because that would compromise it,” said Mtungwa.
DA provincial spokesperson Sithembiso Ngema also confirmed that the city had reinstated Msomi’s bodyguards, adding that the party would continue to engage the municipality on an initial report that found her life was not in danger, because they did not believe an assessment prior to the release of the report was carried out correctly.
Local youth leader Sabelo Lwandle, who last month organised young people to guard the councillor’s home, welcomed the reinstatement of the bodyguards.
Msomi had been given protectors by the municipality from December last year, but in May the city withdrew them after a report by the police’s crime intelligence unit found that she was not in danger.
Last month unknown gunmen fired shots at her house, but no one was injured. The attack prompted the DA to question the authenticity of the police’s threat-assessment report, and it challenged the municipality to reinstate her bodyguards. The councillor had been receiving death threats since she snatched the ward from the ANC in the local government elections last year. Before last month’s attack, a letter was left at her window, in which she was called a traitor. This was followed by the placing of an unused bullet at the window.
Msomi had previously suspected that the people behind the attack were not happy with her winning the ward as a DA councillor.
The ward includes parts of the KwaNgcolosi area, Wushini and the entire Molweni township.
Daily News