By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
There has been another tragic blow for the University of Fort Hare in the Eastern Cape as a member of the institution’s protection unit died in a car accident.
While details remain sketchy, its understood the deceased, who was the second man hired to provide personal protection to Vice Chancellor Sakhela Buhlungu, was on his way to Alice campus on Sunday morning when the incident took place.
“The University of Fort Hare confirms the death of another officer and bodyguard. The incident occurred in the early hours of the morning. The deceased individual was a key witness in the case against the individuals who planned an assassination attempt against the vice chancellor and also those who were involved in the various shooting incidents against our management team, said Fort Hare spokesperson JP Roodt.
He was a crucial witness in the upcoming murder trial of Buhlungu’s first slain body guard.
“The deceased individual was a key witness in the case against the individuals who planned assassination attempts against the Vice-Chancellor (Sakhela Buhlungu) and who were involved in the various shooting incidents against our management team,” added Roodt.
Provincial police spokesperson, Brigadier Tembinkosi Kinana, said the accident happened in the early hours of the morning.
“The driver died instantly at the scene on Cambridge Road in King Williams Town,” he said. The three passengers were rushed to hospital.
Kinana said the circumstances surrounding the accident are under investigation.
The name of the deceased has not yet been released.
The accident comes three months after Buhlungu’s first body guard,Mboneli Vesele, was gunned down in what is suspected to have been an assassination attempt.
That shooting took place outside the vice-chancellor’s Alice residence and Buhlungu escaped unharmed.
Five suspects were arrested in connection with the murders of two UFH employees, including Vesele and the institution’s fleet manager Petrus Roets.