Cape Town -
The ANC Youth League says it is not deterred by mayor Patricia De Lille’s threat to “carefully consider” future youth league applications to march in the city.
In an open letter to the league’s Dullah Omar region chairman, Khaya Yozi, on Tuesday, De Lille said the league had failed to meet a number of the conditions stipulated in terms of the Gatherings Act during its march to the provincial legislature on Monday.
“I am deeply disappointed by your organisation’s flagrant disregard of the stipulations set out in the march approval,” said De Lille in the letter.
“Marchers gathered at the wrong venue [Salt River train station], marchers gathered and started at a later time… marchers did not disperse by the stipulated time of 1pm.”
The ANCYL’s metro region announced in July that it would march to Premier Helen Zille’s office on the 27th of each month until its demands for “better housing and service delivery in the townships” were met.
Yozi, in response to the letter, said De Lille and Zille were not responding to the issues raised in their memorandums. Instead, he said, they kept “focusing on small things”.
“It’s tautology, the mayor and premier are always speaking c***, they don’t speak on the real issues,” he said.
“We negotiated with the police at Salt River station to march from here. The city deliberately stalled their response to our application to march.
“We gave an indication on July 27 and they know now we will march on the he 27th of next month. Filling forms is a formality.
“The mayor is out of touch… it is an acknowledgement that the city and province have failed to deliver and not responded to real issues we brought up.
“Out of their stupidity [De Lille and Zille], I think it was only the ANC Youth League at the march, but there were other organisations with us, from Muslim organisations to community organisations.”
Yozi said the city wanted to push the league into a corner “and take us to court”.
“We work on the street and we will fight on the street. People must start to wake up to what is going on,” he said.
Yozi added that Zille “was sent by Germans to SA to close black schools, kill opportunities for black people in the taxi industry by replacing them with the rapid bus transport system”.
De Lille also wrote that she had been informed by police that a charge of non-adherence had been filed.
“The essence of a democracy is an unconditional respect for the rule of law. No one is above the law, and anyone who flouts the law must face the consequences,” she said. - Cape Argus