Police are investigating a case of malicious damage to property after several gunshots were fired outside the home of a Democratic Alliance (DA) ward councillor in Boksburg on Johannesburg's East Rand.

The shots were fired outside Charles Crawford's home while he and his family were asleep in the early hours of Sunday.

“It is alleged that the complainant‚ who is a ward councillor in Reiger Park from the DA political party‚ Mr Crawford‚ was asleep when woken up by gunshots from outside his home‚” said police spokesperson Captain Pearl van Staad.

Van Staad said the complainant called the police to ask for assistance and waited for the police to arrive before he could check what was happening.

“When the police arrived‚ he opened the door‚ went out and discovered that the window of their double-storey home had a bullet hole and there were five other holes on the wall‚” she said.

The party’s Belinda Bozzoli expressed shock at the incident via Twitter.

“Unscrupulous‚ power-hungry people responsible. Nobody was hurt but the family will spend Christmas with police guarding their home. Disgusting‚” she said.

Police said the motive for the incident was unknown and no arrests had been made.

Just last month‚ residents in the area had embarked on a violent protest which led to several road closures.

The protest was against illegal electricity connections and poor service delivery.