POLICE will not investigate threats against newspaper journalists because they have not received any complaints.

The Mpumalanga ANC Youth League sent a threatening statement to City Press after the newspaper published two articles in which ANCYL deputy general secretary Steven Ngubeni was accused of awarding contracts to friends in Delmas, where he had been employed as municipal manager until last year.

The first article related to how Ngubeni awarded contracts worth more than R3million to a friend without following proper procedures. The second article said Ngubeni was involved in a hit-and-run accident in Delmas on New Year's Eve.

The statement issued by provincial secretary Isaac Mahlangu read in part: "Our machine guns are ready if there is any deviation: You better not register an address in the graveyard sooner than your Handler [God] anticipated (sic)."

Mpumalanga police spokesperson Superintendent Sibongile Nkosi said yesterday: "We are not aware of the threats. Someone has to come forward before we can investigate."

City Press editor Ferial Haffajee could not be reached for comment last night.

The South African National Editors' Forum said this week that it was outraged by reports that journalists in Mpumalanga were on a hit list targeting corruption busters in the province.

Sanef said so far two provincial government officials on the list had been murdered. Mpumalanga's sports and culture department head of communications Samuel Mpatlanyane was shot dead by assassins last week.

Mbombela municipality speaker Jimmy Mohlala was killed execution style at his home in January 2008.

"The murder and threatened murder of potential witnesses and journalists puts a nasty twist to South Africa's struggle against corruption. Sanef deplores the loss of life so far and urges anybody with information about the alleged hit list to inform the police," Sanef said.