‘Assassinated’ SAMWU officials remembered
Residents recently came together to raise their concerns about the deaths of two beloved SAMWU officials Ronald Mani (50) and Timpson Musetsho (50).
LIMPOPO – The Vhembe residents recently came together to raise their concerns about the deaths of two beloved SAMWU officials.
Speaker after speaker voiced the fact that Ronald Mani (50) and Timpson Musetsho (50), who were gunned down in two separate incidents in January 2019, were killed while they fought for workers’ rights and against the district’s unlawful fund investments in the now defunct VBS Mutual Bank. During that time the Vhembe District Municipality illegally invested R300m into VBS Mutual Bank and the two slain SAMWU officials claimed the money should be used for service delivery to the communities, mostly in rural areas where water is scarce.
Annually, since their gunning down, members of SAMWU in the Vhembe region, officials and family members has a memorial lecture in remembrance of Mani and Musetsho and on January 27 hundreds of people gathered in the Vhembe District Council Chamber. Mayor Dowelani Nenguda sternly warned those behind the killings.
“We will always remember the efforts of Mani and Musetsho and how they fought for the rights of the workers, some of them whom were not yet registered, like the 319 borehole operators. We understand that whistle blowers are in danger and if you talk truthfully, those involved in corruption and maladministration will follow and kill you,” said Nenguda.
The ANC provincial secretary, Soviet Lekganyane, said he will encourage the communities in the Vhembe region to start collecting money that will help to hire and independent investigator to find out who hired the killers of these men.
One of the representatives of the two families, Hulisani Mani, told the gathering it is painful for the children of the two families to live without fathers who were killed by selfish people who always strive to fill their own stomachs and undermine poor people.
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According to Mani, his father and Musetsho were not killed because they negotiated tenders for their children, brothers and family members, but because they stood against corruption and for workers’ rights.
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Mani also urged law enforcement to speedily work on the murder case as it has now taken too long to determine who hired the killers to assassinate Mani and Musetsho. Meanwhile, the four accused of the murder of Mani and Musetsho, Thabo Sibanze, Percy Radzuma, Ndivhuwo Radzuma and Simon Radzuma will be back to appear in Thohoyandou Magistrate’s Court on February 28.
