NELSPRUIT - Mpumalanga Premier David Mabuza has been challenged to respond publicly to the allegations of a
hit-list targeting those who may have evidence of corruption surrounding the 2010 FIFA World Cup. A community newspaper claims the hitlist, titled Operation Clean Up 2014, was faxed to them on Friday
from a busy internet cafe following weeks of debate over whether it ex-isted.

On it are reportedly 10 names, in-cluding the names of two victims, Mbombela municipal speaker Jimmy Mohlala who was murdered on Janu-ary 4 last year and sports, arts and culture spokesperson Sammy Mpat-lanyane who was murdered on Janu-ary 8 this year.The other eight names on the list include Mbombela mayor Lassy Chi-wayo who has previously confrmed re-ceiving death threats on his cellphone around the time of Mohlala’s murder, journalist Alfred Moselakgomo, politi-cian Steven Ngubeni, lobbyist Godfrey Ntombela, businessman Thabo The-ledi, David Mahlobo, Bongo Thomas and Richard Silawu. The newspaper reported that it forwarded a copy of the hitlist to the police.

The Congress of the People’s (Cope) member of the provincial legislature (MPL), Zale Madonsela, said the pre-mier’s silence on the matter was cre-ating suspicion.There have been al-legations of attempts within the African Na-tional Congress (ANC) to have him recalled as premier.“In a province flled with tension and fear, amidst allegations of murder plots, the si-lence of the Premier speaks volumes,” said Madonsela this week.She noted that the ruling alliance of the
ANC, South African Communist Party (SACP) and Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) were the frst to dispute that the speaker’s assassi-nation was politically motivated.
“No amount of spin-doctoring can remove the suspicion of the masses, except for the Premier (who must) pronounce himself on what he knows,” added Madonsela.On Sunday, the Sun-day Times reported that a self-confessed
hitman had come for-ward and claimed to have been invited to a senior ANC leader’s farm and hired to kill histle blowers who are on the alleged hit-list.
Provincial ANC spokesperson, Paul Mbenyane, said the allegations of an ANC member’s in-volvement in crafting the alleged hit-list and funding the executions did not mean the party was behind the plot.“The ANC does not kill, but instead mobilizes people into joining as mem-bers...to improve their lives in society. Any person found to be involved in any criminal activities like murder cannot be a member of the ANC, no matter what position they can be holding,”
said Mbenyane on Tuesday.
He said if an ANC member was found guilty of murder by a court of law, they lost their party membership.The premier’s spokesperson, Mabutho Sithole, said the allega-tions were a “pure fabrication of lies” to defame Mabuza and the provincial government and undermine service delivery.
Sithole said the only plot was one in which Mpumalanga journalists are being used to discredit the Premier.
“The dubious agenda is probably intended to ultimately infuence that the premier be re-called. We thus challenge anyone with verifable proof to bring it forth to the appropriate law enforcement agencies,” he said.The law enforcement agencies are no closer to solving the murders, how-ever.

Despite a R100 000 reward for in-formation leading to the capture and conviction of the speaker’s killers, no
one has been caught.Mohlala’s death last year came a week before he was due to testify in the disciplinary hearing of former mu-nicipal manager Jacob Dladla, who had been accused of fnancial mis-management of the Mbombela World
Cup Stadium project. Dladla has since resigned.The case was taken over offcially by the Directorate for Priority Crime In-vestigations, the Hawks, in January, but Hawks spokesperson Musa Zondi has warned that even if high-profle
fgures were involved in Mohlala’s murder, they would not be investigat-ed without concrete evidence.

“What would be the basis for inter-viewing those people who are impli-cated without evidence?” said Zondi. “There is no concrete evidence against anyone in this case, and as a result it is more diffcult to make headway.

”Police also have no suspects for Mpatlanyane’s murder. Mpatlanyane was shot in his bedroom in Nelspruit on January 8 this year, reportedly for
refusing to be part of a R20 million deal linked to the 2010 tender and a prominent ANC leader member.