The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) on Monday condemned the attack on KwaZulu-Natal-based National Teachers' Union (Natu) deputy president Allen Thompson who survived an attack by a group of armed men in uMhlanga.

The trade union federation said it was worried that law enforcement authorities were failing to deal with the continuing political bloodshed in KwaZulu-Natal.

''The level of violence and killings in the province of KwaZulu-Natal has reached crisis level. Law enforcement agencies need to do more to stop these killings. There is lot of work that still needs to be done to exorcise our entire country and KwaZulu-Natal in particular, of the culture of resolving disputes with violence and assassinations,'' Cosatu said in a statement.

''We send our message of support to Mr Thomson, his family and his organisation, Natu. We call on law enforcement agencies to work around the clock to arrest and prosecute the perpetrators.''

The attack on Thompson took place on Friday in uMhlanga while Thompson was en-route from Natu’s Empangeni head office to Durban. The union said the attack was an assassination attempt. After the shooting, the perpetrators stole documents pertaining to an “imminent forensic investigation regarding the KwaZulu-Natal education department”, the 40 000-member union said.

Thompson was shot through the driver’s front window and hit in the shoulder. Although wounded, Thompson made his way through traffic and stopped at the uMhlanga Hospital’s main entrance and ran inside.

The balaclava-clad assailants entered the hospital searching for Thompson and returned to his car when their search proved fruitless. They then proceeded to “loot” Thompson’s car, Natu president Siphosethu Ngcobo said.

“They walked away with his documents, a bag with an undisclosed amount of money, two laptops, and bags that contained very critical information regarded as the master key to the imminent forensic investigations regarding the Kwazulu-Natal department of education.''

Cosatu called on Minister of Police Bheki Cele and President Cyril Ramaphosa to ''decisively intervene'' in the political crisis facing the province.