Durban - A high-ranking metro police official tasked with protecting eThekwini mayor Zandile Gumede fears for her safety.
Sbonelo Mchunu, an acting senior superintendent, metro police spokesman and head of the VIP protection services, in an e-mail sent to Deputy Mayor Fawzia Peer said he believed the mayor’s security detail was being “deliberately” weakened by metro police boss Eugene Nzama.
Nzama told the Sunday Tribune that he was aware of the e-mail but could not comment. He referred questions to Nhlanhla Mthethwa, head of logistics at metro police, who said he was busy and could not comment at the time of publication.
Mchunu confirmed that he sent the e-mail but would not be drawn to comment further.
In the e-mail, which the Sunday Tribune has seen, Mchunu claims that “political interference” is the reason why Gumede was being made “vulnerable” each time she was at an official engagement.
Security details for the mayor vary according to the “risk” each of appointment presents.
However, former city manager Mike Sutcliffe urged the media to be careful when allegations such as Mchunu’s surfaced because he believed there were individuals inside and out of the municipality who wanted to make mischief.
Mchunu outlined in detail why he had a “bad feeling” about the mayor’s safety, and feared that she might be “targeted for assassination”.
In the e-mail, Mchunu alleges that Nzama has been interfering with Gumede’s security detail from when she chaired the city’s health, safety and social services committee.
It is alleged in the e-mail that Nzama told a meeting of metro police directors recently that Gumede would be “removed from office”, in the new year.
Mchunu said his “restlessness” over Gumede’s safety stemmed from the fact that certain councillors had been assassinated after their assigned security personnel were removed on what he called “frivolous grounds”.
