The African National Congress (ANC) in the Eastern Cape condemns with the contempt it deserves the use of violence by a group of residents who attacked ANC supporters in Bathurst, that resulted in the unfortunate torching and damage of 5 houses and 2 cars at Barthust ( Ndlambe Municipality) on Sunday 10 February 2019.
Any violent conduct and burning of houses to intimidate our movement not to campaign in Bathurst cannot be accepted because it is tantamount to anarchy and disorder.We would like to humbly request community members not to be influenced and this requires that our communities isolate criminals.
The majority of the people voted overwhelmingly for ANC councilors in Barthust because they want to strengthen democracy and any violent conduct reverses all the gains. ANC councilors are legitimate leaders of our communities as per the mandate of the electorates.ANC structures and communities must protect and defend their public representatives and become more vigilant against destroyers of democracy.
We strongly believe that police must not be lenient to disgraceful rogues posing as community leaders who advocate for destroying people’s houses and state property. Police should not allow acts of violence, vandalism and criminality to happen at anytime of day.
The police must investigate and root out all elements that might have infiltrated the community. We also call on law abiding members of the communities around Bathurst to isolate this small group of lumpens whose aim is to destroy and cause chaos instead of building.
We further call upon all ANC structures working with the police to gather and supply intelligence to curb the spread of anarchy and disorder.
We can conclude that the burning of houses is purely motivated by criminal inclination and hatred of the ANC and the South African Police Service (SAPS)must move swiftly to arrest the culprits.
Issued by
Cde Lulama Ngcukayitobi
ANC EC Provincial Secretary
Enquiries
ANC Media & Liaison Officer
Judy Mpetsheni
Mobile No: 0636878267/0731176194
Gift Ngqondi
Head of Communications
Mobile No:0848439706/0849519924
