By Karen Breytenbach
Emergency surgery has been done on the African National Congress councillor who was beaten over the head with a brick, a steel pipe and a chair, allegedly while he was trying to break up a party brawl at an annual ANC branch meeting in Khayelitsha on Sunday.
Madodonke Ngombane of Ward 95 in Mandela Park, Khayelitsha, was first admitted to Khayelitsha Hospital with serious head injuries, but was later transferred to Groote Schuur Hospital, where he had surgery on Monday.
A nurse at the hospital said on Monday that Ngombane was unable to speak.
| 'We watched from a distance' |
His condition could not be established at the time of going to press.
Ngombane became involved in the fight between ANC members of Ward 97, recently demarcated by the Independent Electoral Commission and composed of a number of old wards.
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He was said to have attended the meeting only as an observer.
Amos Komeni, an ANC member who observed the meeting with Ngombane, said "a hell of a fight" started when the wife of an ANC leader was attacked and choked by another member outside Chuma Primary School, where the meeting was held.
He said the fight seemed to be between two factions, one supporting Premier Ebrahim Rasool and another supporting Skwatsha.
Ngombane was a loyal Rasool supporter, who was "not afraid to be critical of the ANC leadership in Khayelitsha", said Komeni.
As he was a vocal critic of some policies brought in after its recent annual general meeting and was "very unpopular in some circles... some people wanted him killed", Komeni alleged.
Provincial secretary Mcebisi Skwatsha responded by saying this was "a stale excuse for such bad behaviour" and the party would act strictly against any wrongdoing.
Describing the fight, Komeni said: "We watched from a distance. A woman and a man tried to rescue the woman who was being attacked, only to be attacked themselves by a group of people who came out of the meeting. Then another woman began beating them with a baton.
"Soon it was total chaos. I went in to save the woman and Madodonke got involved to save me and break up the fight. Someone who did not like him finally bashed him over the head with a brick," he said.
Komeni said several people were hit on the head and it appeared that the fight was premeditated, because some members apparently brought weapons to the meeting.
This and other allegations will be investigated by the ANC's Disciplinary Committee.
The ANC's provincial working committee held an urgent meeting on Monday and suspended 10 ANC members, including councillors, who are suspected of fuelling the fight, pending an investigation by the Discipline Committee of the ANC.
"Provincial leaders of the ANC have decided to disband the ANC task teams of branches 91, 93, 95, 97 and 99 and will address party meetings in Khayelitsha next week," Skwatsha said after a press conference at the Provincial Legislature.
Meanwhile, when approach-ed for comment Rasool said he was unaware of the fight and was puzzled that no-one had told him about it.
He had not been invited to Monday's meeting, chaired by ANC provincial leader James Ngculu.
Rasool's spokesperson, Shado Twala, on Monday night said she would inquire at Groote Schuur into Ngombane's condition.
- This article was originally published on page 1 of Cape Times on September 27, 2005
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