An independent election candidate in the Western Cape has survived a botched hijacking in Philippi when gunmen allegedly opened fire on the vehicle he was driving in.
The candidate, reportedly Zackie Achmat, was believed to be campaigning with members in the area on Tuesday ahead of Wednesday’s election when two men apparently tried to hijack their vehicle.
No one was hurt during the incident, but it is believed that a bullet was lodged in the vehicle after a suspect fired a shot at them.
Lenore Oliver, a provincial IEC spokesperson confirmed: “IEC is aware of the incident but it did not affect any of the organisation's voting stations.”
Police spokesperson, Brigadier Novela Potelwa confirmed an attempted murder case was opened, where a vehicle with members of a political party was shot at.
She confirmed that none of the occupants of the vehicle were injured during the incident.
The incident took place hours before Philippi was covered in black smoke on Tuesday evening as people blocked major roads with burning tyres and rocks.
Motorists were forced to find other routes after the traffic lights at the intersection of Sheffield Road and New Eisleben were set on fire.
Earlier in the day a Golden Arrow bus was set alight near the bus depot.
It was not clear what the protests were about.
“Public Order Police with other law enforcement officials were deployed to the area to quell the situation and open New Eisleben and Sheffield roads that were affected when rubble and burning tyres barricaded the route,” Potelwa said.
Achmat did not respond to queries. According to GroundUp, Achmat said he did not think he was personally targeted.