ANC MEMBERS ENGAGE IN ANOTHER ROUND OF VIOLENT AND CRIMINAL ACTS OF THUGGERY AND POLITICAL
by APF • Tuesday April 13, 2004 at 07:58 AM
 drdalet@metroweb.co.za

GANG OF ANC THUGS ATTACK, ASSAULT AND STEAL FROM, APF MEMBERS CONDUCTING POLITICAL ACTIVITIES IN KANANA (VAAL REGION) BUTPOLICE REFUSE TO ARREST CULPRITS

GANG OF ANC THUGS ATTACK, ASSAULT AND STEAL FROM, APF MEMBERS CONDUCTING POLITICAL ACTIVITIES IN KANANA (VAAL REGION) BUTPOLICE REFUSE TO ARREST CULPRITS

INDEPENDENT ELECTORAL COMMISSION (IEC) AGENTS TRY TO SHUT DOWN SUBSEQUENT APF MASS COMMUNITY MEETING

Yesterday morning (Monday 12th April) a gang of about 60 ANC members (all wearing ANC t-shirts) attacked, assaulted and stole equipment from a small group of APF members who were engaged in political outreach activities in the community of Kanana (in the Vaal region). These APF members, all of who belong to the APF affiliate in the area - the Kanana Community Development Forum (KCDF) - were moving through the community on the back of a truck loud-hailing and distributing posters/pamphlets as part of mobilisation efforts for a mass community meeting (to be held later in the day) in order to highlight ongoing socio-economic problems in Kanana ten years since it's establishment as a community.

According to Themba Mbele (APF Chairperson and leader of the KCDF) who was on the truck, the gang of ANC thugs started throwing stones, causing the truck to stop. They then surrounded the truck and began to physically assault the four APF/KCDF activists on it, as well as ripping-up APF posters and pamphlets. The leader of the ANC gang identified as a prominent ANC ward committee member - a 'Mr. Maduna' - then proceeded to steal a loudhailer, camera and money from Comrade Mbele at the same time that others in the ANC gang threatened to stab two of the APF/KCDF activists with knives. While these two activists managed to get away from the ANC gang and the driver of the truck sped-off, Comrade Mbele was further assaulted and told by the ANC 'leader' Mr. Maduna, that the APF 'has no right to call a mass meeting in this community . it is only the ANC that is allowed to hold such meetings'.

After the ANC gang dispersed, Comrade Mbele proceeded to the Small Farm/Evaton police station (there is no police station in the Kanana community) where he laid charges of attempted murder, assault and robbery against Mr. Maduna and the ANC gang. Comrade Mbele then accompanied members of the police force to the house of Mr. Maduna where all the stolen items were found - with the exception of the film in the camera that had been ripped out. Despite this clear proof of criminal activity and with formal charges having been laid, the police, under the command of a Senior Superintendent 'Serkot', refused to arrest Mr. Maduna, claiming that, 'we cannot arrest him because this is election time'. After being required to give a second statement at the police station, the stolen items were returned to Comrade Mbele.

In spite of all of this, the mass community meeting, attended by hundreds of people, went ahead in the afternoon in a specially erected tent. During the meeting two IEC agents arrived with the police and demanded that the meeting disperse, backed by the incredulous claim that no such community meetings should be held so soon before the upcoming elections and that the meeting was 'too loud'. The APF/KCDF leaders successfully resisted this outrageous and unwarranted harassment by IEC agents, explaining that there was no law against the holding of community meetings at any time and that neither the APF nor the KCDF were registered political parties falling under the rubric of the IEC mandate. All of this raises further and serious questions about the impartiality of the conduct of the IEC.

These events, once again, reveal the extent of the ANC's blatant hypocrisy on matters of political tolerance, contempt for the basic democratic (constitutional) freedoms to which all South Africans are entitled as well as the police force's collusion with local ANC leaders and bias against the APF and its community activists. As the APF has previously indicated, this is not the first time that the ANC in various communities around Johannesburg have physically attacked, assaulted and harassed APF activists, alongside inaction by the police against the perpetrators while victimising the APF for simply exercising the right to political expression and activity. Not once has the ANC national and/or provincial leadership publicly denounced and disowned these acts of political intolerance and thuggery carried out in the name of the ANC, nor taken any visible action to prevent such from happening.

The ANC leadership must be held politically and legally accountable for the criminal and undemocratic acts carried out by its members/supporters against the APF and its community affiliates. Likewise, the police force must be held accountable for its continued bias and victimisation of APF activists simply because the APF is politically opposed to the ANC and governments neo-liberal policies and expresses such opposition through legitimate community mobilisation and protest activity.

The APF will pursue the criminal case against Mr. Maduna and the ANC thugs in Kanana and will utilise all legal avenues to expose and punish any future criminal acts of politically motivated thuggery. We will continue our political mobilisation and activities in all communities where we organise despite ongoing harassment, intimidation and political manipulation of law enforcement authorities. We will also continue to expose the anti-poor policies of the ANC and the government it controls and will defend, with all the means at our disposal, our hard-won democratic rights to open/free political expression and organisation.


For further information contact: Dale McKinley on 072 429-4086 or Themba Mbele on 083 572 8993

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