‘Hit man warns’ Public Protector Mkhwebane
PUBLIC Protector advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane claims her office received a strange phone call from a man, claiming he was hired to kill her.
The alleged threat comes two weeks after a senior investigator in the public protector’s office survived a hail of bullets. The investigator declined to be named.
The public protector in South Africa is one of six independent state institutions set up by the country’s Constitution to support and defend democracy. According to the Constitution, these must be impartial and must exercise their powers and perform their functions without fear, favour or prejudice.
Mkhwebane confirmed to the Cape Argus’s sister paper, the Daily News, that she lives in fear after a man – who claimed to be an assassin from the Eastern Cape – contacted her office numerous times. He allegedly alerted the office that he was “coming” for Mkhwebane. The public protector’s spokesperson, Oupa Segalwe, said that a man claimed that a price had been put on the public protector’s head.
“An Eastern Cape man contacted the office a number of times on Friday, August 20, 2021, claiming hit men had been hired to carry out the hit. He did not say why. The claim has been brought to the attention of the SAPS VIP Protection Unit,” said Segalwe.
According to Mkhwebane, the hit man indicated that they were supposed to travel from the Eastern Cape to Gauteng on Monday, August 16.
Mkhwebane said that although she and her staff continued to be bullied and lived in fear, she had no plan to slow down in holding those in power accountable for corruption.
She added it was clear that those being investigated for serious misconduct were upset. This is a developing story, please stay tuned on IOL