As the country and the world prepared to celebrate Nelson Mandela Day on Sunday evening, a bunch of rightwingers in Pretoria had different, and unsavoury, ideas.
Six of them were arrested on Sunday evening in the city while trying to vandalise street signs bearing former president Nelson Mandela’s name and replacing them with with the name of right-winger Clive Derby-Lewis, who is serving a life term for murder.
The men, who were caught red-handed after being traced by the City of Tshwane’s CCTV surveillance cameras, are due to appear in the Pretoria Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday on charges of malicious damage to property.
Pretoria News has video footage that shows that when the suspects were caught, they had already replaced Mandela’s name on some of the street signs with that of Derby-Lewis, who was jailed for the 1993 killing of SACP leader Chris Hani.
Derby-Lewis is currently serving time at C-Max in Pretoria and his application for parole has been turned down twice in the 17 years that he’s been in prison.
The men were first spotted by CCTV operators at the operation centre while they were trying to replace the Nelson Mandela Drive sign with “Clive Derby-Lewis Str” on the corner of Nelson Mandela Drive and Rissik Street.
The video shows them stopping their car and moving towards the street sign, carrying a step ladder to help them reach it.
They were, however, distracted, presumably by vehicles passing by, while one of them had climbed on the ladder and was already wiping the signboard so he could apply an adhesive that would keep “Clive Derby-Lewis Str” glued on to the board. They then abandoned their mission and returned to their vehicle, before another silver bakkie stopped nearby to pick up one of the men.
But it was at Nelson Mandela Drive and Walker Street intersection were they had been briefly successful before they were cornered by police reacting to the CCTV tip-off.
When they were arrested, the men were standing around. But they were caught by police who knew what they were doing, and the vehicles they were in.
Video footage shows that the names of the intersection had already been changed. Signs bearing “Clive Derby-Lewis Str” were removed and taken as evidence.
Some of the suspects were arrested at a different location after the silver bakkie they were travelling in was stopped by police, who had been given the description and vehicle registration by CCTV operators.
Sunnyside police station commander Brigadier Fred Kekana said the men had been charged with malicious damage to property. Police were investigating whether they had been involved in any such activities before.
He said they belonged to a right-wing grouping in the city known as Verkenners (scouters), and were all city residents. One of them is a German citizen. The Verkenners have a website. “The suspects are all in their 30s. They are a young group of this right-wing formation and we are hoping our investigations will lead to more arrests,” said Kekana.
University of Pretoria history expert, Professor Fransjohan Pretorius, said the act was deplorable and showed there were people who did not understand Mandela’s contribution to peace in South Africa.
“This was a deplorable act and has no place in South Africa. It is further deplorable because even among rightwingers, there are people who actually believe in peace and are aware and appreciative of Mandela’s role in this country. I believe that these people (the suspects) represent minority opinion and their actions are not entirely reflective of the opinions of white people in this country,” said Pretorius.
He added that on both sides of the country’s “unfortunate racial divide”, certain people held very radical and unprogressive views, but that these were only reflecting minority views on both sides.
Tshwane mayor Kgosientso Ramokgopa said on Monday night that the actions of the suspects underscored the racial conflicts that still existed in society, and that the action of the minority group should not simply be dismissed. They appeared to be an organised voice. “It is disturbing that they chose the day they did. It shows that it was an organised and deliberate set to upset a day being celebrated in the country.
“As a city we must remain focused on our message of building social cohesion and entrenching the agenda for social transformation,” said Ramokgopa. The arrest showed that the city’s CCTV surveillance was an important tool against violation of by-laws and the scourge of crime, he added. - Pretoria News