‘These guys are millionaires’: ATM president claims he spoke to ‘hitman’

The president of the African Transformation Movement (ATM) Vuyo Zungula claims he has received a call from a hitman, who reportedly has been assigned to take him out.

Zungula alleged he received the call on Monday from a Free State man who said he had been paid by someone from Pretoria to kidnap and murder him.

Zungula said the man was not willing to tell him who had paid him, but he urged him to be on the lookout for of a white Ford Ranger with Lesotho number plates.

“I will be reporting this to the police this morning [Thursday], but I am cautious of my movements because these are not things you can ignore,” said Zungula.

‘Conversation’ with hitman

The Citizen was privy to the telephone call recording between the hitman and Zungula.

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This is what the hitman said: “Listen, there are guys from Pretoria who came to us in Ficksburg. They want us to do a job for them. They want us to kidnap you.”

The hitman said the people who hired him owed him money from a previous job that he had done in KwaZulu-Natal.

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“These guys are millionaires. They did not say what you did to them.”

The hitman said he could record the conversation between himself and those that hired him to do the job.

Meanwhile, there have been several break-ins at the party’s headquarters in Mthatha, Eastern Cape this week.

Zungula said it was clear the burglars were looking for some essential documents.

“This is something that is political. An ordinary thief would not break into the same place three times in one week. They want something and they are not getting it,” he said.

According to Zungula important documents are kept at the ATM head office. These include financial reports, list of candidates for parliamentary positions and strategy documents.

“Now if you look now, you can see that these people were going through the files. They were going through all the papers,” he said.

Zungula said they did not expect a third break-in in the same week.

“We thought these were ordinary burglars so we had not placed armed response at our premises,” he said.  

Zungula said despite the ATM only having two seats in parliament, the party was a strong force in the political space.

“We are gaining traction and at some point people were trying to discredit us linking us to former president Jacob Zuma and Ace Magashule,” he said.