Mandla Nxumalo from KZN, South Africa was on Monday murdered by angry workers.
They then drove his white Citi Golf over his body and set him alight.
His two bodyguards were slashed with pangas and spades and stoned to death.
Nxumalo was attacked at Umzinto on the south coast where he had set up a farming project and hired people to work there.
They all paid R300 to join to be farmers, but he never paid them the R1 300 a month he had promised.
Chief Ndabenkulu Chiliza (62) of Mgayi, Umzinto who gave Nxumalo the land has also been threatened with death.
“Nxumalo made a proposal – he wanted to farm my land to create jobs. It sounded like a good idea,” Chiliza said.
Cynthia Mnguni (58), one of the people recruited by Nxumalo, said things turned bad when he came to speak to the workers.
“People wanted to kill him so one of his bodyguards fired two warning shots. Then the war started.”
Nxumalo has been in the headlines since 2008 when he introduced himself as a pastor and businessman.
In 2009 he held a media briefing claiming that he would build hotels worth R1,5 billion. The hotels were never built. Sam Nxumalo, a member of the KZN Legislature, said he invested R30 000 for shares in the project.
“The pastor told me that I would get a 6% dividend every month but I never got anything,” he said. MP Linda Hlongwa said Nxumalo paid back her R100 000 after she took legal action.
“He was not going to live long,” she said. The police are investigating the killings but no arrests have been made.
- Daily Sun
50