THE murder case of former Rustenburg African National Congress (ANC) councillor Moss Phakoe remains unresolved after the Supreme Court of Appeal on Thursday set aside the conviction of former Rustenburg mayor Matthew Wolmarans and his bodyguard Enoch Matshaba.
Mr Wolmarans, also a member of ANC provincial executive committee in North West, was in 2012 convicted of the murder and sentenced to 20 years in prison. Mr Matshaba was given a life sentence.
A few days before he was shot in front of his house in 2009, Mr Phakoe is understood to have handed a dossier on corruption in the Rustenburg local municipality to senior ANC officials including President Jacob Zuma.
Mr Wolmarans’ lawyer Raphepheng Mataka said on Thursday his client was now "a free man".
Alleged political assassinations have become a common feature in the faction-ridden ANC structures in the North West. The motorcade of former premier Edna Molewa was shot at in 2009 after she attended Mr Phakoe’s funeral.
In 2012 ANC regional secretary in Kenneth Kaunda, Obuti Chika, was killed. A senior provincial ANC leader is among those facing trial for the murder. A few days before his murder former provincial secretary Kabelo Mataboge survived gunshots.
Last week another former Rustenburg mayor and member of the ANC in the provincial legislature, Jeanette Dibetso-Nyathi, survived a shot through her car window while driving from Rustenburg to Mafikeng.
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