Pretoria - Tshwane’s Corporate Services MMC Thembi Mmoko was still not well on Monday, barely 24 hours after being whisked away amid a hail of bullets following a chaotic ANC meeting in Stinkwater, north of the capital, on Sunday night.
Her son Vincent told the Pretoria News: “My mother is not well at all. She had to be driven off while people were firing shots in her direction. It was a traumatic experience for her. The crowd also cornered my father and took his firearm and two cellphones.”
The MMC was unharmed, but her bodyguard was shot, a school vandalised and a policeman’s house smashed as tensions within the ANC simmered yet again.
The bodyguard, who cannot be named, was admitted to hospital and later discharged.
Other members of the party were also assaulted as comrades turned against comrades in the battle ofwho will occupy the councillor posts in the ward, should the ANC win the ward in the August 3 elections.
The violence has flared up in several areas, including Bronkhorstspruit and Atteridgeville since the ruling party began preparing its structures for the local government elections.
It was the fifth time that the meeting had been violently disrupted in a feud rooted in the hotly contested leadership struggle in Ward 95.
The dispute is understood to be about the nomination of candidates for the elections. Party members expressed discontent with alleged intimidation and rigging of votes in favour of candidates who are preferred by regional leaders.
After the meeting was disrupted, Mmoko and her protectors left Marotola Primary School and went to her home, which is barely 1km away.
However, on arriving home, the protectors noticed that they had been followed by a group of men travelling in a Toyota Quantum.
One of the guards went outside and fired shots in the air to try to disperse the crowd. It was then that the guard was shot.
Metro Police spokesman Senior Superintendent Isaac Mahamba said the protector was shot in the right shoulder and rushed off to Jubilee Hospital. He was subsequently transferred to Louis Pasteur Hospital.
Tshwane ANC regional secretary Paul Mojapelo urged members to lodge complaints with the party’s appeals committee if they were dissatisfied with processes to elect candidates.
“The leadership does not have preferred candidates; that would kill the ANC processes.
“Preferred candidates come out from the branches and not the leadership,” said Mojapelo.
In February, MMC for Sports and Recreation Nozipho Tyobeka-Makeke, who was overseeing the first of the disrupted meetings, allegedly left with a list of members who had voted for a candidate not preferred by the leadership, resulting in chaotic scenes.
According to the members, ANC regional leaders wanted incumbent Aaron Maluleke re-elected.
The people were against his nomination.
The members said they went to the ANC regional offices to lay complaints against the intimidation, but no action had ever been taken against individuals implicated. A member of the regional executive committee, whose name has been withheld, has been named.
Trouble began brewing as the branch meeting was about to start. Police said shots were fired at the school’s guardhouse. The house was later set alight, while three classrooms had their windows smashed.
Police spokeswoman Lieutenant Sarah Lesabana said they were investigating a case of malicious damage to property and public violence. No arrests had been made.
The tensions that started at the meeting spilled on to the streets. Angry members vandalised a police officer’s house and smashed his car.
Sergeant William Kgopa, who is attached to the SAPS VIP Protection Unit, said the mob accused him of calling the police to the meeting.
“I went to the meeting in a personal capacity and found that the school’s guardhouse was on fire.
“There were two groups there; one inside the school and another outside. They were throwing rocks and bottles at each other. I drove to my house.”
Kgopa said he received a call informing him that the group had gathered outside his house.
“About 10 cars drove to my gate, and I ran away with my younger brother.
“We looked back and saw the men jumping out of the vehicles. They smashed my car and took some things that were there,” said Kgopa. - Additional reporting by Keketso Mashigo
Pretoria News