{"id":47865,"date":"2023-02-22T09:42:22","date_gmt":"2023-02-22T07:42:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/mthathaexpress\/former-anc-councillor-in-mbizana-sentenced-for-killing-two-political-opponents-20230220\/"},"modified":"2025-03-21T00:22:20","modified_gmt":"2025-03-20T22:22:20","slug":"former-anc-councillor-in-mbizana-sentenced-for-killing-two-political-opponents-20230220","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/mthathaexpress\/former-anc-councillor-in-mbizana-sentenced-for-killing-two-political-opponents-20230220\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Eastern Cape ANC ward councillor sentenced for killing two political opponents"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The Mbizana High Court has sentenced former African National Congress (ANC) ward councillor, Lucky Bethwell Mbuzi to two life terms. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mbuzi (42) was a councillor in the Winnie Madikizela-Mandela Municipality. He was convicted for his involvement in the murdering of his two political opponents, Hleziphi Thotshe and Mduduzi Madikizela, in the lead to the previous local government elections. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>ANC Activists, Thotshe and Madikizela were attacked and killed in their homes in 2021 in Kwa Jali Administrative Area, Mbizana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson, Luxolo Tyali said that the police investigation led to the arrest of Mbuzi and two young men, aged between 23 and 29, who the court later acquitted after they testified that he had compelled them to kill his rivals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div 'helvetica=\"\" arial;font-size:16px;white-space:pre-wrap;background-color:#fcfcfb;\"=\"\" data-block=\"true\" data-editor=\"8mpc2\" data-offset-key=\"9d0ji-0-0\" helvetica,=\"\" neue',=\"\" pro',=\"\" sans=\"\" source=\"\">\n<div class=\"public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr\" data-offset-key=\"9d0ji-0-0\">\n<p>\u201cHe did not want to be opposed to any of his political aspirations, and the deceased were active members of the ANC in their respective communities and had political ambitions. He threatened the lives of the two, not to take part in the political elections that were to be conducted that seek to remove or change him from his political position as a councillor,\u201d said Tyali. <\/p>\n<p>He said the firearms used to kill the deceased were recovered from Mbuzi and linked to the offenses. Eastern Cape Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Barry Madolo commended Senior State Advocate, Mduduzi Mzila and the investigating officer for ensuring that Mbuzi was punished for his crimes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cPolitically motivated killings threaten democracy, so bringing the perpetrators to book strengthens the free and fair political activities, allowing communities to elect candidates of their choice,\u201d said Madolo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h6 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-issued-by-npa\"><strong>ISSUED BY NPA<\/strong><\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Mbizana High Court has sentenced former African National Congress (ANC) ward councillor, Lucky Bethwell Mbuzi to two life terms. Mbuzi (42) was a councillor in the Winnie Madikizela-Mandela Municipality. 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This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.8 (Yoast SEO v27.8) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Former Eastern Cape ANC ward councillor sentenced for killing two political opponents | Mthatha Express<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/mthathaexpress\/former-anc-councillor-in-mbizana-sentenced-for-killing-two-political-opponents-20230220\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Former Eastern Cape ANC ward councillor sentenced for killing two political opponents\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Mbizana High Court has sentenced former African National Congress (ANC) ward councillor, Lucky Bethwell Mbuzi to two life terms. 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[&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/mthathaexpress\/former-anc-councillor-in-mbizana-sentenced-for-killing-two-political-opponents-20230220\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Mthatha Express\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MthathaExpress\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-02-22T07:42:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-03-20T22:22:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/mthathaexpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/5f924986787849199f6e7958eb377ce8.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Compiled by Babalwa Ndlanya\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta 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