"I put my faith in God.. to bring those responsible to book"

THE house of Mogalakwena municipality speaker Melba Mabusela was allegedly torched by unknown people in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Mabusela and her family were not harmed.

Police said the incident happened at about 2am at Mapela village outside Mokopane.

Lieutenant-Colonel Ronel Otto said it started off with a loud bang and then the kitchen cupboards were on fire. She said, however, that the flames did not cause extensive damage.

She said they were investigating a case of malicious damage to property.

"Our preliminary investigations have revealed that somebody was involved in the attack on the house, but we do not know what the motive was."

Otto said they suspected that a petrol bomb was thrown into the house.

No one has been arrested yet in connection with the incident.

The municipality has been entangled in infighting between councillors and officials in the recently.

On Tuesday Esther Mothibi tendered her resignation as mayor of the municipality after she was pushed to do so by the ANC in the province.

According to Mabusela she did not have any known enemies in the municipality, let alone the village.

"But one cannot rule out the possibility of jealousy because I've been unemployed for a long time and since I was appointed speaker of the Mogalakwena municipality in June last year nasty remarks have been passed by fellow villagers."

Mabusela was not home when the incident happened, but was away on work commitments.

She said her mother, two brothers, her three children and two nephews all escaped unhurt.

"I put my faith in God hoping that he would give the police more strength to go deeper in their investigations and bring those responsible to book," she said.

Mabusela added that only a curtain, sofa, table and cupboards were affected.

Otto said investigations were continuing. - frankm@sowetan.co.za