By: Sabelo Skiti, David Macgregor and Loyolo Mkentane
FIVE women were arrested and an innocent bystander allegedly wounded when police opened fire on toyi-toyiing protesters in Port Alfred and Peddie yesterday.
The residents had gathered at the swearing in of the new leadership and councillors in Port Alfred’s Ndlambe Local Municipality and Peddie’s Ngqushwa Local Municipality to express their unhappiness with the mayors chosen by the provincial ANC leadership.
And in Port Elizabeth, ANC members from 47 Nelson Mandela Bay wards, unhappy with the ward councillors who were sworn in this week, protested outside Standard House, the ANC’s regional headquarters in Govan Mbeki Avenue.
In Port Alfred, emotions ran high as more than 500 angry residents packed the street outside the council chambers to protest against the swearing in of controversial ANC mayor Sipho Tandani.
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In Peddie, police also fired rubber bullets to disperse protesters who had gathered on the N2. Three women were arrested and charged with public violence.
At the Amahlathi Local Municipality in Stutterheim, former mayor Mcekeleli Peter was re-appointed amid loud protests outside. But there was no violence and police maintained a heavy presence throughout the afternoon.
The ANC was hit by fights over councillor candidates in the run-up to the May 18 local government elections. Some ANC members and regional leaders launched failed high court bids to interdict the party from submitting its candidate lists. When reporters arrived in Peddie yesterday, the small town was almost at a standstill as at least 300 protesters gathered in front of the town hall.
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During the protest, the crowds sang ANC struggle songs, including an adapted version of controversial song Dubula iBhulu (shoot the boer). But this time the target was Ndwanyana.
“How can you swear in councillors in a corner without the public? Who will these people serve?” they asked.
Others were unhappy with the election of SA Communist Party national treasurer Phumulo Masualle as ANC provincial chairperson.
“We are ANC members and refuse to be controlled by communists. Zuma must come to answer because he promised things would be fixed,” a middle-aged woman, who refused to give her name, shouted repeatedly.
Ngqushwa Ward 10 ANC leader Sonwabo Boqwana said people felt betrayed that the council had been sworn in after the ANC had urged them to vote and promised to “fix the wrong that was done immediately after the elections”.
“[ANC NEC member Nosiviwe) Mapisa- Nqakula came here on May 16 and told the people to vote because these problems would be fixed.”
Boqwana said all 13 wards were unhappy with their candidates. “They say these people were all elected at each other’s houses,” he said.
Peddie’s police spokesperson could not be reached for comment. Meanwhile, in Port Elizabeth, Zolani Dondashe, spokesperson for the Concerned Group, said they had written a letter on May 24 to Masualle, calling on him to look into the issue of the ward councillors, as they had been promised it would be addressed after the municipal elections. “When we came here at midday, Standard House was locked,” he said.
“We are discouraged that they closed us out. It shows the arrogance of ANC regional chairperson Nceba Faku towards us. If they don’t remove the councillors, we will ensure that we stop the new councillors from going to their offices. We are going to close them down. People are not happy at all.”<snip>
