ANC councillor Lunga Nombexeza found himself under arrest on Sunday after a KwaNobuhle man opened a case of assault against him.
The ward 50 councillor is alleged to have severely assaulted Luxolo Makeleni on December 27 after he accused Makeleni of stealing his plasma television.
Nombexeza has strongly dismissed the allegations, saying they were part of a political conspiracy against him.
Makeleni, a MetroRail ticket verification officer, opened a case of assault at the KwaNobuhle police station after he was released from the Provincial Hospital in Uitenhage where he rang in the new year lying in a hospital bed.
Makeleni, 27, sustained fractures to his right hand, internal bleeding, a punctured kidney, and bruises all over his body and received multiple stitches on his head.
He said on December 27 a man came to his home in Ntshali Street in KwaNobuhle and asked to speak to him outside.
When he stepped outside, Nombexeza’s car was parked outside and he was asked to get inside the car, he said.
Inside, he was accused of stealing the ward councillor’s television set, which was stolen four months ago.
Makeleni said Nombexeza accused him of knowing where the TV set was and said they would drive until he had it back in his possession.
Makeleni said he travelled with Nombexeza followed by another vehicle to a park off Matanzima Road, where he was allegedly taken out of Nombexeza’s car and shoved into a Volkwagen Caravelle where he was further accused of stealing from the councillor.
He said they drove out further to Afghanistan, an informal settlement in KwaLanga, where he was allegedly beaten up for several hours in a shack by Nombexeza and two other men.
“Lunga said I know where his plasma [TV] was and I told him I had nothing to do with the theft of his TV,” he said.
“I told him I could never do that because I’m not a thief and because we grew up together. I mean I grew up with him along with his older brother, who’s since passed, and was there when his mother died,” Makeleni said.
Makeleni said Nombexeza threatened that no-one was leaving the shack until his television set turned up.
“I thought I was going to die because they said they would drag me with his car and by then they had already taken out chains to drag me.
“To stop them from beating me up I told him I’d buy him a television but he asked me how I could afford a R32,000 plasma and I said I’ve got a job and I can open an account and pay it off,” Makeleni said.
He was then driven back to his house where he was allegedly beaten up further before finally being let go.
Makeleni was admitted to Laetitia Bam Day Clinic but was transferred to Uitenhage’s Provincial Hospital where he spent eight days before being released on January 3.
Makeleni said he did not know why he was targeted by Nombexeza.
Asked for comment, Nombexeza said the accusations against him were “nonsensical” and that there was a political conspiracy against him.
“You have people fabricating stories using my name. I don’t know why.
“This is a political conspiracy, it’s got nothing to do with me so I [could not] care less,” Nombexeza said.
Asked if he had beaten up Makeleni, Nombexeza said: “I’m going to end it there.”
Police spokesperson Sergeant Majola Nkohli confirmed police were investigating a case of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm.
“The complainant alleges when he was sitting at home someone arrived at his home calling outside where two other people were waiting for him which included the councillor.
“When he was inside the car and taken to the shack where he was beaten up, he managed to identify all three suspects that accused him of stealing a plasma [TV] stolen four months ago,” Nkohli said.
Nkohli said Makeleni was allegedly locked inside the shack, beaten up and only released hours later.
He said on Sunday two suspects had been arrested and were due to appear in court on Monday.
However, Nkohli could not say whether they had been released on bail, a warning or had spent the night in jail.
Nombexeza was not in custody on Monday.