SowetanLive reports that according to the SA Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu), the assassination of labour relations officer Siza Mbhalati was well-orchestrated and he was executed to "protect corrupt officials in the department of education".

Union secretary Mungwena Maluleke on Sunday claimed that if the Department of Education did not do anything about reports that some of the union’s members were receiving threats due to their line of work, more lives would be lost. Deputy chief education specialist from the Johannesburg south district, Mbhalati, died in a hail of bullets while sitting in his car outside his home in Protea Glen, Soweto, on Thursday. Mbhalati worked for the labour relations unit in the Johannesburg south district and was responsible for facilitating labour related disputes at schools in the district.” “This is not a robbery or hijack gone wrong. This was a target. Our people have been receiving threats and we have been reporting these threats to the department [of education] and nothing is being done about it,” Maluleke said. He advised that the union had reported three cases to the department since 2020 in Gauteng alone. “Our people, especially district directors, now live in fear. How long will this take and whose head is next before the department addresses this issue and deals with corrupt individuals who want to control the department,” Maluleke added.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Herman Moloi at SowetanLive

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