News24 reports that a popular shop steward employed by the eThekwini municipality was sent to jail for 20 years on Monday for murdering a colleague who was to testify against him at a disciplinary hearing.  

Thamsanqa Njisane, a SA Municipal Workers' Union (Samwu) representative who worked for the City's Parks and Recreation Department, was convicted for the murder of supervisor Johannes Sekoati, whom he shot five times in KwaMashu on 3 February 2015.  Njisane did not testify at his trial or give any version of events that led to his arrest.  He pleaded not guilty.  But KwaZulu-Natal High Court Judge Kate Pillay noted that it had been common cause that there was bad blood between the two men and Sekoati was going to give evidence at a pending disciplinary hearing.  She commented:  "We cannot have a society where people resort to violence to resolve disputes.  Surely he could have just got decent legal representation for his inquiry if he was afraid of the evidence the deceased was going to give?"  Pillay went on to say:  "The message has to be sent out that these sort of offences will not be treated lightly."

• Read this report by Tania Broughton in full at News24

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