Gaye Davis
15 November 2008
The spectre of no-go areas in the run-up to next year's elections loomed large this week after the violent disruption of a Congress of the People (COPE) meeting in KwaZulu Natal and fighting talk from the region's ANC secretary-general, Senzo Mchunu, who accused COPE founder Mosiuoa Lekota of "urinating" on the ANC.
Lekota has now called on Safety and Security Minister Nathi Mthethwa, as well as the national and all provincial police commissioners, to take a stand on political intolerance - saying a pattern was emerging where ANC supporters set out to intimidate people who wanted to attend Cope meetings.
And the Inkatha Freedom Party has also weighed in, warning that the country was facing "an immediate and real threat" of the reignition of the kind of violence which turned vast tracts of the region into no-go areas in the '80s and '90s war of attrition between itself and the ANC.
A meeting Lekota was due to address in Mount View, Verulam, on Thursday night was abandoned without his even appearing, when chaos erupted and chairs were thrown after ANC supporters, many wearing Jacob Zuma T-shirts, descended on the hall and toyi-toyied.
Organisers on Friday said the ANC supporters had been ferried in by the bakkie-load, and that they had decided it would be unsafe to take Lekota to the venue. The meeting was abandoned.
Lekota had to abandon another meeting on Friday morning - this time a gathering of Welkom businessmen. The organiser said that while there was no specific threat she was aware of, the possibility of the meeting being disrupted presented too great a risk.
A Cope meeting in Heidedal township, Bloemfontein, on Thursday night went ahead without disruption - but organisers said ANC supporters came to the venue and stood outside, "making a big noise".
And on Friday in Welkom's Phomolong township there was a standoff between Cope supporters, the police and ANC supporters after members of the ANC Youth League occupied the building where the meeting was to take place.
An eyewitness said the meeting went ahead after police were shown the receipt that proved Cope had legitimately booked the venue.
Lekota on Friday said that a pattern of intolerance was emerging which saw ANC supporters presenting "a threatening presence" so that people who want to come to the meetings "get discouraged and go away".
He questioned why the ANC leadership had issued no statement condemning the disruption of the KZN meeting.
But ANC national spokesperson Carl Niehaus said he and NEC member and Transport Minister Jeff Radebe had addressed the issue at a media briefing on Friday morning at Luthuli House, where both had emphasised that disrupting political meetings was not acceptable.
Niehaus said the ANC had undertaken to investigate and take steps to stop planned disruptions of parties' meetings.
But Niehaus found himself on television later in the day explaining KZN heavyweight Senzo Mchunu's comments that Lekota - whose fledgling party wants to dent the ANC's majority at next year's polls - was provoking ordinary members of the ANC by "rubbishing" the party, which made it hard to discipline members.
"Terror [Lekota] has decided that he is going to urinate on the ANC by rubbishing the ANC as much as he can. If he continues to do so, ordinary members are going to feel the need to defend the party," Mchunu told Sapa.
"I'm not saying they should, but this makes it difficult for us to appeal for discipline from the people.
"There are other parties, such as the IFP and the DA. They criticise the ANC regularly, but they don't rubbish the ANC," he said.
"He should concentrate on his party and their policies. We are capable of speaking for ourselves," said Mchunu.
He added that the information he had was that a number of ANC members had received SMSs inviting them to the meeting on Thursday.
"It's a strange way of working. I found that quite ridiculous and it's provocative to say the least," said Mchunu.
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It is most troubling to see and hear account of the political process leading up to South Africs'a national election in April of 2009. It is my hope that ANC leadership will respond decisively and call for ANC supporter to be mindful of our South Africa being a dmocracy where people have a right to share their political views and ideas, even if it is bringing harsh critique to the ANC.
Mr. Jacob Zuma cannot stand by together with other leaders and remain inactive, hiding behind a defence that explains people cannot be controlled because previous ANC leaders are "rubbishing… [Read Full Text]