Johannesburg - What could have been a bloodbath at the ANC’s headquarters in the Joburg CBD was averted on Monday when the police separated two warring factions that almost came to blows.
This followed a tense stand-off over the #OccupyLuthuliHouse campaign, which lasted about four hours, between a small group of disgruntled ANC members and those who invaded the inner city to defend the offices from “hooligans”.
This was as the tensions within the governing party over President Jacob Zuma’s leadership style, which has seen his administration veering from one scandal to another, spilt into the open.
The #OccupyLuthuliHouse organisers were resolute in their demand that Zuma and the entire ANC national executive committee must resign.
The police formed a human chain along Simmonds Street near Beyers Naude Square to separate the opposing groups, who taunted each other with Struggle and derogatory songs. The pro-Zuma faction taunted and jeered at the anti-Zuma group.
The Zuma backers were vocal in demanding that “makuliwe” (let’s fight each other). But the heavy security detail, which included members of the SAPS’s Tactical Response Team and the Presidential Protection Services, as well as those from the Joburg and Ekurhuleni metro police departments, prevented any blood-letting.
See more: PICS: #OccupyLuthuliHouse pits ANC against itself
When asked why their officers were deployed outside their jurisdiction, EMPD spokesman Wilfred Kgasago said it was because they “have cross-border agreements”.
“If there is any probability or possibility of something arising which would be too big in a metro outside our borders, there is nothing wrong with us assisting whenever we are requested. Tshwane has done it, Joburg has done it.
“The fact that it was not a government event does not matter. The bottom line is that there was a potential dangerous situation,” he added.
At one point during the fracas, it looked as if all hell would break loose when Umkhonto weSizwe Military Veterans Association (MKMVA) chairman Kebby Maphatsoe tried to reach out to the #OccupyLuthuliHouse campaign leaders, who included former ANC Youth League deputy president Ronald Lamola, ANC Joburg member Sasabona Manganye and organiser Gugu Ndima.
The MK veterans pulled, pushed and shoved as they tried to get their controversial leader, Maphatsoe, to the campaign leaders. They shouted that they would not give the dissenters’ leaders a thoroughfare to Luthuli House to deliver a memorandum to ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe.
Mantashe called on the MK vets not to give the “hooligans publicity” and pleaded with them to ensure that there was no bloodshed.
Maphatsoe warned the dissenting voices that they would “not succeed in destroying the African National Congress” and that Zuma would finish his terms as party leader and state president.
“Reactionary forces will never succeed. Unity is more important to us. The #OccupyLuthuliHouse organisers are raising petty issues,” he roared.
Manganye said they had pleaded with ANC supporters from provinces, including North West, Mpumalanga and the Free State, to turn back home as they wanted to prevent another Marikana massacre.
He said the heavy police presence around the Luthuli House precinct was “shocking”.
Manganye described Zuma as the elephant in the room and someone who had brought the ANC name into disrepute. He cited the allegations of state capture by Zuma's close friends the Guptas, and the municipal election disaster that saw the ANC losing major metros.
ANCYL deputy president Desmond Moela said they commended ANC supporters for “supporting and defending this house”, pointing at Luthuli House. Speaking to The Star, he added: “This is a revolutionary house, you cannot just come here and play.
“People must respect and understand that there are (party) processes that they must follow. President Zuma is not going anywhere. He’ll remain the ANC president until the next (elective) congress, and he’ll be the president till 2019.”
Political analyst Professor Somadoda Fikeni said lessons that could be learnt from Monday’s protest were that “the ANC is still a house divided”.
@luyolomkentane
The Star