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Johannesburg - The death of prominent businessman Wandile Bozwana has sent shock waves across North West and the Northern Cape, and set social media abuzz with emotional messages of outrage, as well as speculation on the circumstances of the killing.
Bozwana was killed in a dramatic daylight shooting in which no fewer than nine bullets were pumped into a car in which he was a passenger in Pretoria on Friday afternoon.
Many people put pictures of Bozwana on their Facebook and WhatsApp profiles in his honour.
His brother Benedict Bozwana said the killing was a hit. “He was shot in broad daylight and the number of bullets that struck him clearly shows that the intention was to finish him off. It is shocking for us that he was killed in cold blood. The whole thing is very difficult for the family, and especially our mother Aletta.”
Others, including Economic Freedom Fighters deputy president Floyd Shivambu, have already started pointing fingers.
“My suspicion is that one premier from the Premier League faction is behind the tender assassination of Bozwana. He was a good guy and RIP,” Shivambu tweeted on Saturday.
In Kuruman, Northern Cape, a delegate at an ANC regional conference said Bozwana had sponsored the party gathering.
“He was here on Thursday to finalise some payments for the conference logistics. His death has completely spoilt the mood, even before we began [on Friday night]. He loved the ANC with all his heart and now everybody wants to know who killed him. I can tell you people are really angry here,” the delegate said.
North West chairperson Paul Sebegoe of the SA National Civic Organisation has spoken out against “unfounded speculations”, saying this would “only serve to mislead the investigation and advance the nefarious agenda of those who seek to sow divisions and disunity”.
The DA in the province has called for Bozwana’s “involvement in tenders to form part of the police investigation”.
“[Bozwana] had considerable involvement in tenders. Generally, the allocation of tenders in North West is questionable,” said North West DA leader Chris Hattingh.
Meanwhile, police are still searching for Bozwana’s killers. They said he was struck by nine bullets when an unknown gunman opened fire. The female driver was hit, but survived the hail of bullets.
The incident took place on the N1 at the Garsfontein off-ramp on Friday at about 3pm while 43-year-old Bozwana was travelling from Sandton to Pretoria.
Often seen with men who appeared to be bodyguards, Bozwana was a passenger in a yellow Renault Clio that was branded with his recently launched energy drink.
Police spokesperson Sergeant Asnath Malatsi said at about 3pm, the car was stationary at a traffic light when a silver BMW M3 stopped nearby.
Malatsi said one of the occupants of the BMW jumped out of the vehicle with a firearm and started firing at the car.
The gunman then jumped back into the BMW before it sped off.
“The female driver was also hit by a bullet, but managed to drive the car to a nearby glass-fitting dealership. [Bozwana] was hit four times in the back and five times around the buttock area,” Malatsi said.
“He was taken to the Unitas Hospital, where he later died. Police are now investigating a case of murder and attempted murder.”
A former regional secretary of the ANC in the Northern Cape, Bozwana died shortly after one of his companies took on the North West government in the Constitutional Court on Tuesday.
The provincial government approached the court in a bid to stop Bozwana from attaching 44 government-owned vehicles and a state bank account with a balance of R30 million.
This came after the North West government “failed” to pay the settlement amount for a cancelled contract.
Bozwana publicly accused North West Premier Supra Mahumapelo of being “greedy” and said he was “out to enrich himself while taking away business from us”.
He was among a group of businessmen who marched against Mahumapelo and accused him of blacklisting their companies earlier this year, which they said prevented them from getting any business contracts.
Mahumapelo was not available for comment on Saturday.
Bozwana himself did not avoid controversy.
He was arrested with four others earlier this year after they allegedly torched the vehicles of another businessman in what was believed to be a tender dispute.
Bozwana’s close friend and former ANC North West secretary Kabelo Mataboge described him as a “kind person despite the tough bravado he would put up”.
