AZAPO Mayoral Candidate Survives Gun Attack In Gqeberha

AZAPO Mayoral candidate in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro fought off his assailants during an attempt on his life last week while on an election campaign trail for the upcoming local government elections on November 4.

The former Azapo national secretary-general, Chris Swepu, immediately took to social media to assure his followers and friends that he had survived the alleged armed robbery while collecting the party’s campaign posters from a member in Tubali Street, Kwazakhele on Tuesday.

“I can confirm that I am fine. It is true that yesterday (Tuesday) I survived an attempt on my life that was packaged as [an] armed robbery. I continue to lead Azapo’s campaign to create a city that works.”

Swepu told The Coastal that two gun-wielding young men approached his car while he was on a phone call - with a friend from Cape Town - at about 11am. At the time of the alleged armed robbery, Swepu, accompanied by a colleague, was getting ready to leave.

“Before we got into the car, a Polo - belonging to my party member’s neighbour - stopped behind us. (And) soon after that a [Toyota] Venture followed, but it could not pass because the street is too narrow for two cars. I was still on a call when the two guys knocked on my window pointing a gun at me. They instructed me to open the car door.”

Swepu said he complied with the suspects, who took his cellphone while mid-call and demanded his car keys.

Alarmingly, the unarmed suspect egged on his accomplice to “dubula lenja” (shoot this dog). But the armed man argued that they first search him for valuables before killing him. It was at that moment that Swepu acted swiftly, in self-defence. He drew his licensed gun and fired six times at the men at close range. Both suspects managed to flee the crime scene and sped off in their waiting vehicle in the nearby street.

One of the suspects was later admitted to the Livingstone Hospital where he allegedly claimed that he had been wounded while he was being robbed in the townships.

Swepu identified the man during an identity parade at the Kwazakhele Police station. The wounded suspect is under police guard while his accomplice is still at large. Swepu is certain that he wounded both suspects.

He is convinced that the Toyota Venture had been following him to the crime scene and it was not a random armed robbery. “Why did they come straight for me after passing the Polo and other people on the street? Why were they determine to kill me while I was acceding to their demands.”

“Azapo has never been this strong in the metro. We are contesting in all the 60 wards, so that alone is a threat to some people in the metro,” said Swepu.

South African Police Services spokesperson, Captain Sandra van Rensburg, confirmed that a young man was arrested on Tuesday after the hospital alerted the police about a suspicious man who was being treated for a gunshot to the chest. Upon investigation, police identified a young man as a suspect in an armed robbery in Kwazakhele. He is currently under police guard in hospital, she said.