JOHANNESBURG, South Africa – South African police are investigating an attempted assassination of the country’s vice president Paul Mashatile, he revealed on Sunday.
Mashatile’s vehicle driving in a motorcade was shot at six times with bullets as he was driven on the N12 highway after leaving an African National Congress national executive meeting in Borksburg.
The incident, which took place on March 31, was not made public until it was reported by a Sunday newspaper.
Mashatile was asked about the assassination attempt as he left a church service KwaSizabantu in KwaZulu-Natal on April 20.
He revealed: “What really happened is that as I was driving from the NEC, my car was hit by what initially I thought were stones. When we got home, the protectors (security team) said the impact was too much, they took the vehicle for checking because you know a bulletproof windscreen is too strong to be damaged, and that’s why they are doing the investigation.”
Mashatile’s spokesman Keith Khoza said six bullets had hit the vehicle’s bulletproof windscreen.
Mashatile says he is unfazed and will not scale back on his official engagements, telling journalists: “I’m well protected.”
