Death threats will face the full might of the law
24 January 2018
It is deeply unfortunate that during my communications with the public, which includes social media, I received a concerning threat on Facebook at approximately 18:30yesterday evening from a well-known ANC youth leader.
While I have, at this stage, opted not to press charges against the Facebook account holder, I will not hesitate to do so if this conduct persists.
This comes after an individual posted the following on my official Facebook account:
“Solly, former Mamelodi beauty king, we are coming 4 you this Friday, bloody die white puppet.”
This sort of utterance is completely unacceptable and has since been deleted by the individual who originally posted it. I will monitor the comments made by this individual and others like him who elect to use these communications platforms to launch insults and send threats instead of lodging genuine concerns about service delivery issues in the city.
This comment was likely made in anticipation of the march scheduled for Friday in which the ANCYL in the Greater Tshwane Region have threatened to shut down the city in blind service to their agenda. This is a march for which the city received no formal application and should it continue it will be unprotected and unlawful.
While we respect all South African’s constitutional right to protest we encourage them to do so in a manner that is commensurate with the law.
If these utterances on Facebook echo the spirit of the march scheduled for Friday, it is deeply concerning. However, we do hope that these comments were made by this individual in his personal capacity and that the deletion of the post is an indication of his regret.
To this end we call on the ANC leadership to not condone or support a repeat of the events we witnessed ahead of the election when Thoko Didiza was announced as the ANC Mayoral Candidate for Tshwane that saw violence in places like Atteridgeville in 2016.
No person in Tshwane and SA alike should make or receive comments such as the ones distilled above.
There is no place for violence in South Africa and it must be dealt with whenever it occurs.
Issued by Samkelo Mgobozi, Spokesperson to the Executive Mayor of Tshwane, 24 January 2018
