Chief Mhlabunzima Maphumulo is shot dead

The president of the traditional leaders organisation CONTRALESA and African National Congress (ANC) stalwart, Chief Mhlabunzima Maphumulo, was gunned down in the driveway of his home in Pietermaritzburg. Maphumulo was a chief from Maqongqo/Table mountain area, east of Pietermaritzburg. He had survived a previous attempt on his life when his house was burnt down. An alleged "hit-squad" operative claimed that the murder had been planned by the Pietermaritzburg police, and that the assassins were paid R5000 each. Judge N.S. Page found in his judicial inquest the testimony of this witness and another alleged "hit-squad"  witness 'unreliable', 'appalling' and 'even worse'. A subsequent probe by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), paying no attention to the  conflicting judicial ruling, nevertheless found that Chief Maphumulo had been targeted for attack in a planned hit-squad operation. The TRC discarded Page's judgment, but failed to provide evidence to prove its own contrary conclusion.