Durban – ActionSA, a newly formed political party under the leadership of Joburg’s former mayor Herman Mashaba, claims it fell victim to an act of political tolerance in uMlazi’s F Section, south of Durban, in the KwaZulu-Natal province this past week.
ActionSA said a member of the party was assaulted on Sunday and had their political colours removed and then burned by the perpetrators who were allegedly members of the ANC.
Last Thursday a voting station in F Section, which falls under Ward 79 in eThekwini, was allegedly burnt down by an ANC councillor, Sithenjwa Nyawose, the party claimed.
But Nyawose denied the claims against him, saying that there had been “no political mayhem” in his ward.
Nyawose said he knew nothing about the burning down of a voting station in his ward.
“I don’t know what ActionSA is talking about. There are three ward councillors in F Section, maybe they are confused,” the councillor said.
The party's mayoral candidate for Durban Dr Makhosi Khoza on Thursday opened a case of assault against against the uMlazi councillor at the SAPS, as well as damage to property charges.
“This is after an ANC councillor allegedly decided to have burnt down the offices housing a local voting district to frustrate political contestation within the ward while also threatening members of the community.
“ActionSA will not tolerate any acts of political intimidation against any of our communities. We are a country with laws, and we will not stand by while our people are intimidated, threatened and physically harmed while exercising their democratic right to represent and vote for any political party of their choice, and to participate in democratic processes,” the party said.
ActionSA media office Busi Radebe told Independent Media that the party had a meeting with the police regarding the incident, and said the real problem was that “political intolerance is on the rise”. The party would still face a problem in terms of protection as their membership grows.
“The police are prepared to up their security, but with no resources and being severely under-staffed, there isn’t much that they can do. The party is growing and it will then become actively impossible to protect every single individual it has affiliated with ActionSA and that shouldn’t really be on us. We live in a metro, we have the police and we have the metro police that should be assisting us,” Radebe said.
Political Bureau