afrol News, 13 June - A top official of South Africa's governing African National Congress (ANC), Mcebisi Skwatsha, was on Thursday night stabbed in the neck at a branch meeting in Boland.

The party has expressed "deep shock" at the knife attack, but its youth wing insisted that the stabbing of the ANC Western Cape Secretary must be thoroughly investigated. Mr Skwatsha was rushed to hospital where his wound was clean up before he had been discharged.

A 30-year-old man was arrested by the provincial police in connection with the crime, and would soon face justice at Worcester Magistrate's Court.

The "well attended and orderly" provincial branch meeting was held after the Western Cape ANC took a decision to suspend Boland regional executive for "defying provincial directors on municipal matters."

"The meeting was disrupted by a small group of people who came for the purpose of disrupting the meeting," the governing party said. "We stopped the meeting to ensure the safety of those who were present," it said.

Skwatsha, who until July 2005 held the provincial Transport and Public Works Minister, was last September cleared by the Western Cape parliamentary committee of wrongdoing in a lucrative Cape Town land deal. He was also accused of conspiring with provincial officials to commit in award of tenders.

The ANC Secretary-General, Gwede Mantashe, has strongly condemned Skwatsha's stabbing. He said the ugly development contradicted party's efforts to build unity, and therefore opted for disciplinary measures on the case.

The ANC ruling party is sitting on a knife edge in Western Cape province, splitting between two factions. But its provincial Youth League Chairman, Siyazi Tyatyam, assured that the stabbing will not prevent the party from going ahead with its elective conference scheduled for next month.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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