A Musina ward councillor, who was assaulted on Thursday, 8 September, during a community meeting, says the attacker is one of the people bent on destabilising the community with the intent to derail service delivery in his ward.

Ward 1 councillor Fistos Mafela was allegedly assaulted by a member of the royal council during a meeting to elect ward committee members at the Madimbo Thusong Centre after a heated argument. He accuses the member of the royal council, Mbengeni Muthelo, of acting maliciously because his (Muthelo´s) preferred independent candidate lost during the recent local government elections. “This is an attempt to stop me from delivering on the mandate entrusted to me by the electorate, and I will not be deterred. I will do what my people and organisation want me to do,” he said.

Mafela was allegedly accused by the community of having imposed a ward committee comprising his friends on the people. He is also accused of being disrespectful to the local chief, Aifheli Nemadimbo and of dividing the community and acting unilaterally on issues of service delivery.

Limpopo police spokesperson Lt Col Mohale Ramatseba said Muthelo appeared in court on Friday and was cautioned and discharged.

After hearing the news that the man had only been cautioned, Mafela fumed and said police were unfair to him as they did not bother to inform him. “I only heard through rumours that the man had been released. I am very disappointed at the turn of events. I had thought they would regard it as a serious matter,” he said.

Musina Municipality spokesperson Wilson Dzebu confirmed hearing the rumour. “We have heard about it, but so far we have not received a formal report. We will only be in a position to respond after receiving a detailed report from the councillor,” he said.