Johannesburg - Faced with a revolt on its doorstep over its leader who has veered from one scandal to another, the ANC has brought the precinct around its Joburg headquarters under stringent surveillance.
On Sunday, personnel in an unmarked midibus fitted the Luthuli House precinct with security apparatus, including CCTV cameras. The cameras, which were tested on site, were in addition to the two existing in-house security cameras - one facing the main entrance of Luthuli House and the other the main parking entrance.
Late on Sunday, officers from the Joburg metro police department (JMPD) in half-a-dozen vans manned the offices while coils of razor wire, ready to be rolled out, were stationed around the building. This was as the police braced themselves for the #OccupyLuthuli House campaign on Monday.
More police officers were due to be deployed on Monday morning. ANC security personnel and bodyguards for party officials would be expected to be on high alert.
“We are going to deploy a lot of officers. We will work together with Gauteng traffic police and the SAPS to ensure the safety of citizens. We have deployed some officers already in the area, but will deploy more in the morning,” said JMPD spokesman Chief Superintendent Wayne Minnaar.
The cameras were part of the ANC’s attempt to stop members - who are demanding that President Jacob Zuma step down - from trying to storm the offices. The campaign is led by former Wits University student representative council (SRC) president Mcebo Dlamini, Joburg ANC member Sasa Manganye, and former ANC Youth League national executive committee members Ronald Lamola and Ntibi Modise, among others.
Sources said the installation of the CCTV cameras was to assist the governing party to obtain footage to be used for the sanctioning of “all bona fide ANC members” taking part in the march.
“This is how seriously the ANC is planning to deal with these dissidents. The footage of all the cameras will be used in the planned disciplinary cases against them. The final purpose is to fire them from the organisation,” said one source.
This came as the clamour for Zuma to step down continued unabated, following the party’s dismal performance in the municipal elections that saw it lose several key metros. This has largely been blamed on Zuma’s administration, which has been embroiled in controversies surrounding his alleged role in state capture by the controversial Gupta family, who are his close friends.
On Sunday, the ANC in Gauteng resolved, following its extended provincial executive meeting, to join the calls by those within and outside of the ANC for a broad special national consultative conference. It is hoped that Zuma would be voted out of office.
Political analyst Professor Somadoda Fikeni said the ANC in Gauteng was trying to find a middle ground because the national leadership had banned its structures from making conflicting statements about it.
On the installation of CCTV, he said it was definite that the ANC would use the footage to identify those taking part in the march. “They will take disciplinary action as they will interpret the march as a disciplinary issue rather than a political matter,” Fikeni said.
The march could also become a battlefield for the ANC factions aligned to Zuma and those opposed to him.
The ANC Women’s League said on Sunday that the #OccupyLuthuliHouse campaign was driven by “cowards”.
“We feel that those are cowards. Those are not members of the ANC, they are afraid to participate in the structures of the ANC. They are pulling this cheap political stunt to show people that they can go and demand that certain things happen in the ANC,” ANCWL secretary-general Meokgo Matuba told journalists in Pretoria.
Matuba warned the #OccupyLuthuliHouse campaigners that they would meet at the governing party’s headquarters.
“We will not allow them... They will find us there tomorrow (Monday) at Luthuli House waiting to defend the ANC. I don’t want to be misquoted; we will be defending the ANC and our revolution,” she said. - Additional reporting by Kgopi Mabotja and ANA
The Star