Skwatsha 'stable' after attack

2008-06-13 11:34

Verashni Pillay

Cape Town - ANC Western Cape secretary Mcebisi Skwatsha was in a stable condition on Friday after being stabbed in the neck at an ANC meeting.

Skwatsha was rushed to Worcester Medi-Clinic after the attack on Thursday at a meeting with the ANC Boland regional executive.

He was discharged from hospital at about 22:00 on Thursday.

Sune Kilian, nursing manager at the hospital, said Skwatsha was "fine" and would recover.

Meanwhile, police and the ANC were investigating if the man who was arrested for the attack was a member of the ANC or not.

Checking 'all possibilities'

"None of the people in the ANC recognise him as an ANC member," African National Congress spokesperson Jessie Duarte told News24. "He is not on our database as an ANC member but we're checking, we're not putting aside any possibilities."

Skwatsha was in Worcester to address the Boland regional executive after a provincial decision to suspend the entire executive committee, following "defiance of provincial directives on municipal matters".

According to Duarte, Skwatsha and ANC deputy provincial secretary Max Ozinsky went to the area to explain the province's decision to the branch.

"They were five minutes into the meeting when this group stormed in," said Duarte.

The group consisted of about eight people, according to Duarte, who were not invited to the meeting.

She said it was not clear what their motives were, and the ANC was talking to people in the community to help the police with their investigation.

Tension over suspension

The Boland regional executive committee were being suspended after they decided to suspend a local mayor, an action that falls out of their jurisdiction. "The provincial executive committee told them not to do so, they continued with the suspension and on that basis the province decided to suspend the region," said Duarte.

She said there was tension in the branch about the suspension but it was unclear if this was linked to the attack.

"If indeed they are ANC members we have no room in the ANC for people like that," she said.

Police spokesperson Superintendent Andre Traut said the 30-year-old suspect would appear in Worcester Magistrate's Court on Tuesday, on charges of assault with the intent to commit grievous bodily harm.

- News24