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Municipal speaker held up at Mpumalanga home

Komatipoort - Nkomazi municipality speaker Jackie Masiye has been held up at his home in Dludluma Trust near the Swaziland and Mozambican border, Mpumalanga police said on Wednesday.

Mpumalanga African National Congress leaders, however, were not convinced the armed robbery could have been a foiled assassination attempt, a Sapa correspondent reported.

Lieutenant Mzwandile Nyambi said Masiye, 38, was held up at his home in the early hours of Monday. The armed men allegedly told Masiye they were sent to kill him, but robbed him instead.

Masiye told police that while he and his wife were sleeping, he heard their bedroom door open and three men entered.

Cellphones, iPad taken

"One of the suspects pointed a gun at him and told him that they had been sent to kill him," Nyambi said.

"The suspects then demanded a gun from Masiye, who told them that he does not have one."

One of the men tied up Masiye and his wife and searched the house. They took an undisclosed amount of cash, shoes, a laptop, five cellphones, an iPad, two suits, and bank cards.

"The suspects then fled the scene with the victims' VW Jetta. They allegedly withdrew an undisclosed amount of cash from the cards they took from his house.

"The vehicle was later recovered around the Tonga area," said Nyambi.

By Wednesday morning, no arrests had been made.

The attack on Masiye comes ahead of the ANC's regional conferences, at which members would elect their provincial leaders.

ANC Ehlanzeni regional secretary Pat Ngomane said there was no proof yet that the crime was politically motivated.

"We heard about the attack on our member... For now we are going to rule it as a crime until we find information that connects it to politics.

"We know most of the time when going to conferences we fear even a shadow when there's nothing there."

Unaware of attack

Masiye is vying for the chairmanship position of the ANC in the Ehlanzeni region along with current regional chairperson Ngrayi Ngwenya and ANC MP Jomo Nyambi.

Nyambi was not immediately available for comment, while Ngwenya referred all questions to ANC provincial spokesperson Sibusiso Themba.

Themba said he was not aware of the attack.

"I do not know anything about this, it's new to me. No formal communication was brought to us about this, so we will rely on the police for now to investigate and arrest those responsible for this."

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