By Marcus Moloko
MK Party MP Vusi Shongwe has recounted how he was allegedly kidnapped and robbed on the eve of the parliamentary ad hoc committee visit to question businessman and attempted murder-accused Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala about his alleged links to senior police officers.
Shongwe’s ordeal and subsequent appearance before the committee at Kgosi Mampuru II prison on Thursday have prompted calls for tighter security for MPs, with MK Party Chief Whip Colleen Makhubele lobbying for additional protection.
Shongwe said he went to visit relatives in Tembisa on Wednesday evening. He made a stop, and two armed men got out of their vehicle and forced him into their car, driving off with him.
He said they referred to him by name and mentioned his duty as an MP, and how he questioned people. He was allegedly forced to withdraw money for the men.
Confirming he had opened a criminal case, Shongwe said he was released in the early hours of Thursday morning. Around 5 am, he went to the hotel where MPs were being accommodated and prepared for the probe of Matlala that day.
In the video, he recounts how he attempted to sleep but couldn’t due to the magnitude of trauma he suffered.
Asked why he decided to go to work the very same morning, Shongwe said he had grown up in the township of Ekurhuleni, where robberies, kidnappings, and hijackings were almost “normal”.
“I needed to fulfil my duty entrusted to me by South Africans of questioning, and wanting answers from Matlala,” he said.
He thanked South African’s for their support and recalled how emotional the entire ordeal was.
Shongwe admitted the trauma of the abduction lingered as he went about his parliamentary duties.
“It is not easy to sit in a committee probing corruption when you have just been threatened and robbed. But I had to show up, because the work we are doing is too important,” he said.
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