Cape Town - ANC members chased Lindiwe Mazibuko, the DA’s parliamentary leader, out of Bredasdorp where she had gone on Monday to visit the spot where Anene Booysen’s body was found a year ago.
The visit was part of a series of community visits she is making before President Jacob Zuma’s State of the Nation address on Thursday.
Mazibuko had intended to talk to residents about how the DA planned to fight violent crime, but after just 30 minutes people in the crowd started singing ANC struggle songs and told her to “hamba” and to “f*** off”.
About a third of the crowd of 150 were wearing yellow ANC T-shirts.
Police had to step in and escort Mazibuko to her vehicle while the ANC members surrounded them, shouting at her, with one even referring to her as “Satan”.
As the DA car drove off, a DA supporter in the crowd was knocked down by Mazibuko’s vehicle, sustaining minor injuries. Mazibuko was in the passenger seat.
ANC member Archibald Philiso said: “We are not here to cause trouble. We are here to fight the problem and the DA is that problem.
“She came here a year late to pay her respects, only because the elections are coming up. Lindiwe is only a puppet in the DA’s political campaign. They can’t come here and do as they please. This area belongs to the ANC.”
Mazibuko’s intended speech in Bredasdorp indicated that she had decided to visit the area “to see for myself what the true state of our nation is”.
Her speech noted: “It has barely been one year since the body of Anene Booysen was found on this street. Raped, mutilated and brutally murdered, the torment that Anene endured in those final moments of her young life has haunted me and the rest of South Africa. They can never be forgotten.
“The atrocities committed here are as terrible as those committed in cities, villages and towns across our country. Anene suffered a similar fate to thousands upon thousands of women in South Africa.”
Sapa reports that Mazibuko’s spokeswoman Siviwe Gwarube said: “It was a very disappointing incident.” She said ANC members shouted and disrupted Mazibuko when she visited the spot where Booysen was found last year
Mazibuko was not hurt.
Booysen, 17, was raped and disembowelled. She died in Tygerberg Hospital on February 2.
Her attacker, Johannes Kana, was sentenced to two life terms for the crime.
ANC spokesman Jackson Mthembu could not be reached for comment.
Cape Argus