Mashatile must stop uMkhonto we Sizwe’s violent plan for JHB

11 September 2017

The DA calls on the ANC’s Leader in Gauteng, Paul Mashatile, to prevent politically motived acts of intimidation and violence by the ANC’s uMkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans Association (MKMVA) in the City of Johannesburg.

This follows the alleged distribution of a message by the MKMVA to its members, calling on them to “intensify” the “struggle to reclaim power” in the City of Johannesburg in order to support the ANC’s Motion of No Confidence in the Executive Mayor of Johannesburg, Cllr Herman Mashaba.

These intensified efforts will most likely mean violent protest, which will be held outside Council on the 27th of September 2017.

Regrettably, we have witnessed these thuggish acts of intimidation from the ANC before. Earlier this year, public consultations of the City’s Integrated Development Plan were marred by politically motivated acts of violence aimed at preventing these crucial public consultations. This was due to the ANC distributing a message to its members calling on them to prevent peaceful public consultations. Importantly, the message also instructs ANC members not to wear party attire so as to make them less identifiable.

In another instance, the ANC staged an orchestrated attack on our democracy under the auspices of their front-organisation, the Johannesburg Social Movement (JSM), in a blatant attempt to prevent Council from passing the adjustment budget and bringing change to the residents of Joburg.

The ANC has made it clear that it will resort to violence in order to undermine democratic process and the law, all so that they may secure their patronage networks.

I have a message for the ANC: We will not be intimidated. You will not stop us from fulfilling the mandate for change that the residents of our City have given us. The DA-led administration has already begun changing the lives of the people of Joburg through delivering better services, recruiting more metro police capacity and by cracking down on corruption. This is just the start; real change is on the way.

The ANC has built a corrupt system to feed themselves, we need total change to that system. We need a new beginning in Johannesburg.

The DA will challenge this motion. We will not allow the ANC to undermine the change that the people of Johannesburg have called for. The DA is committed to serving the people of Johannesburg with pride.

Issued by Khume Ramulifho, DA Johannesburg Regional Chairperson, 11 September 2017