Official's murder stuns premier

2005-03-23 12:22

Johannesburg - Free State Premier Beatrice Marshoff said on Wednesday she was shocked by the murder of Noby Ngombane, a top official in her office.

"No-one knows why it should happen to him," Marshoff told Sapa through tears before breaking off the conversation, unable to continue.

Ngombane, 38, was shot dead at his house in Bloemfontein on Tuesday night.

Police spokesperson Inspector Harry Nagel said a car pulled into the drive-way of his house in Hillsboro in the city around 22:00.

He went outside to investigate and the occupants of the vehicle opened fire on him.

He ran back to the house while they were shooting at him but he collapsed in the kitchen and later died in the Hydromed hospital as a result of his wounds.

"A political motive for the murder was a possibility but we cannot confirm it," Nagel said.

Ngombane was the head of the Free State governments policy monitoring and evaluation unit in the premier's office.

He also the premier's and the provincial government spokesperson, was a close confidant of the premier and a former spokesperson of the ANC in the Free State.

But since being appointed as head of the department of tourism, environmental and economic affairs in former premier Winky Direko's government Ngombane had been embroiled in controversy.

The DA in the province called on president Thabo Mbeki to oversee the investigation into Ngombane's death.

"The president and top officials from the national government have had to intervene on several occasions in the power struggle in the provincial ANC. Due to the political connotations of this incident, the police must place top priority on the case.

"President Thabo Mbeki must personally accept responsibility for the investigation, and if it appears that it was indeed a politically motivated attack, he must leave no stone unturned that the quarrel within the ANC be stopped once and for all," a statement from Peter Frewen said.

- SAPA