When I meet with the Chairperson of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), Brigalia Bam, on Friday, I will ask her what special measures the IEC will take to monitor and prevent political intimidation and violence in the run-up to the 2009 election.

The ANC realises that its grip on power is slipping, and that it runs the risk of losing more than one province after the next election, so its members and supporters have embarked on a campaign of Mugabe-style intimidation and thuggery in an attempt to bully their political opponents.

This campaign is stoked by the reckless war-talk of the ANC Youth League and senior ANC leaders, and the ruling party's failure either to condemn unequivocally or take remedial against its members for inciting and perpetrating violence.

Last week, about 200 ANC members in Verulam invaded a meeting of the newly formed Congress of the People (Cope). Wearing T-shirts emblazoned with Jacob Zuma's face, they hurled chairs at Cope supporters and broke up the gathering. KwaZulu-Natal ANC provincial secretary Senzo Mchunu had earlier warned that the ANC would "crush" any meetings of Cope in the province.

Another Cope meeting was also disrupted in Bloemfontein, where ANC members blockaded the entrance to the venue and blasted car hooters to make the speakers inaudible.

Such intimidation is implicitly condoned and fuelled by ANC leaders like ANC Women's League president Angie Motshekga - who described the founders of Cope as "dogs" who had left the ruling party - and Zuma himself, who called them "poisonous snakes".

The DA has long been on the receiving end of the ANC's recourse to violence and intimidation. Last month, two of our activists were brutally attacked by ANC supporters in the Mogoba informal settlement. Now that the ruling party has split and the opposition has started to consolidate around core constitutional values, the ANC is upping its fire and lashing out in all directions.

For this reason, the police must act to ensure that all political gatherings are safe and secure, and the IEC must redouble its efforts to anticipate and prevent outbreaks of violence as the next election approaches. I will ask the IEC Chairperson to explain her plans in this regard when I meet with her later in the week.

Statement issued by Democratic Alliance leader, Helen Zille, November 18 2008

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