Johannesburg – Not heeding an anonymous phone call warning him not to come to work the next day nearly cost Bhekinkosi Mzimela his life.
Mzimela is one of the security guards who survived a life-threatening ordeal when a notorious mafia grouping ambushed contract workers at a water treatment plant under KwaZulu-Natal-based water utility Mhlathuze Water on September 4.
He said the caller just warned him not set his foot near the water facility, which he dismissed as hoax.
“It was a private number, and the instruction was clear that all security guards should not avail themselves for work the following day because something big was going to happen. I never took the threats seriously.
“But when heavily armed men stormed the site, I knew that we were staring death in the face,” said Mzimela.
He said the men arrived in a convoy of vehicles and demanded entry into the water facility.
“They threatened and assaulted security guards, demanding to see the contractor. They claimed he was owing them money because he had been awarded a tender, which belonged to them. They shouted that he must pay them R2-million as compensation.”
The notorious business formation often called “Amadelangokubona” are infamous for using hostile methods to demand mega-government projects in the province through violence and intimidation.
Their stranglehold has caused mayhem and misery with fears rife that the failure to dismantle the group might scare away investors.
The incident was confirmed by Mhlathuze Water Board spokesperson Siyabonga Maphumulo: “We cannot, however, expand on the exact nature of their concerns or demands because when our executive management visited Nsezi, the group had already left.”
Captain Nqobile Gwala, KwaZulu-Natal police spokesperson said they were aware of the business formation and their modus operandi, saying when cases are referred to the police they investigate and effect arrests.
Induna Muntukayise Gumede of the KwaMkhwanazi traditional authority in the KwaZulu-Natal north coast region said the grouping had recently infiltrated the region because of big mining projects.
“We are under siege as traditional leaders; they are now the ones who are calling the shots in tribal councils demanding proceeds from mining companies” says Gumede.
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