ANC bigwigs being driven in big convoys at huge cost to the taxpayers are getting used to being shown the middle finger everywhere they go.

The National Working Committee of the ANC said this while responding to a weekend incident during which members of the Presidential Protection Unit assaulted motorists on the N1 highway outside Johannesburg.

ANC secretary general Fikile Mbalula described their actions of brandishing guns against unarmed civilians as "cowardly".

The ANC leaders said they have noted that motorists and citizens were tired of politicians abusing them on the roads with blue light convoys.

"We go around in this country with our cars and everywhere people show us the middle finger. People hate blue lights with a passion. Especially in the Western Cape, where a premier illegally banned blue lights," said Mbalula.

He said residents of the Western Cape openly show their disgust at politicians who use blue lights, adding that the same disapproval is now evident "throughout the country where people don't want to move when they are supposed to move".

"Blue light is blue light; it's meant for a particular purpose."

Mbalula said the group travelling in two BMW SUVs, who were on the day assigned to deputy president Paul Mashatile, should be suspended.

"The ANC was extremely alarmed by the news of a road rage incident involving members of the SAPS assigned to protect the deputy president. This was not only cowardly but runs against the grain of what the SAPS must stand for, which is to protect all members of society," said Mbalula.

He said the actions of these officers have tarnished the image of the ruling party and its government.

"What threat did they see in that Polo to make them act in the manner that they did? Ipid must investigate.

"We call for the suspension of those who were involved and ensure consequence management in this regard should they be found to have been in the wrong."

The ANC is on the back foot, having failed to get a clear majority in important metros like Nelson Mandela Bay, eThekwini, Ekurhuleni, Johannesburg, and Tshwane during the 2021 municipal elections.

The party is also at real risk of losing control of the Gauteng provincial government, and a resurgence of the IFP in KwaZulu-Natal means the province is no longer a happy hunting ground for the ANC.

Pictured above: Fikile Mbalula