Celani Sikhakhane
Back in November last year, an ANC heavyweight in KwaZulu-Natal allegedly shot a security guard nine times when the guard told him to sanitize his hands at a hardware store.
The guard went into hiding and filed attempted murder charges against Arthur Zwane, the former ANC Regional Chair of eMalahleni in KZN.
Fast forward to September this year, and Zwane is now suing the security guard, Nkosinathi Tshabalala, for defamation of character, and has also filed charges of assault.
Tshabalala claimed that the powerful politician tried to bribe him into withdrawing the attempted murder case, posting a video of the allegations which circulated on social media.
Zwane, who was charged with attempted murder and spent more than two weeks behind bars before being released on bail, told Scrolla.Africa that he has also opened a case of assault at Newcastle police station against Tshabalala.
He claims the guard assaulted him and his two friends who visited the hardware store in November last year.
“We are still checking with my legal team if there is anything he owns so that we could file a lawsuit against him,” said Zwane.
He alleges that Tshabalala is being used by politicians to advance their agenda, but has yet to provide evidence to support these claims.
The video accuses Zwane of trying to bribe him with R100,000 so that he could withdraw the case of attempted murder.
Zwane dismisses the allegation: “I never offered him any money because I acted in self defence. So there was no need to negotiate with him”.
He says Tshabalala sent three different people to him to solicit bribes to withdraw the case even before it was heard in court, and that he rejected these requests.
“Me and my two friends were arrested and spent 15 days in Waterval prison for a crime we didn’t commit.”
In addition to suing Tshabalala, Zwane says he and his friends are also suing the Minister of Police, Minister of Justice and Tshabalala’s former employer Halfway Hardware.
“Papers have already been served to the three and already the State Attorney is in correspondence with our attorneys,” he said.
In response Tshabalala said he is not scared.
“He can sue me the way he likes but he won’t get anything. I am not rich. If I was rich I would not have worked as a security guard and sanitized customers. What he can do, he must come and finish me because he had already spilled my blood,” said Tshabalala.
Director of Public Prosecutions in KZN, Advocate Elaine Zungu told Scrolla.Africa a few months ago that there were two dockets that arose from the incident that had to be considered.
“After studying all the facts in both the dockets, there was insufficient evidence to prosecute in the matters. As a result, the prosecution declined to prosecute in both matters,” said Zungu.
