Johannesburg - The ANC has called for those behind an attack on Dr Iqbal Survé, the Executive Chairperson of Sekunjalo Investment Holdings and Independent Media, be brought to book.
Speaking to the media at the post-NEC briefing at Luthuli House on Wednesday ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule said the attack on Survé was uncalled for and required law enforcement agencies to act swifty.
He said no South African should be subjected to any form of attack or abuse from any person or entity.
“This is uncalled for. The perpetrators must be brought to book. We are saying to South Africans this is the time to unite and build a South Africa for all,” said Magashule.
A team of top Western Cape police detectives has been assembled to probe a complaint of intimidation by Survé after he received a text message in the early hours of the morning last month alerting him that someone had been sent to tamper with his vehicle’s brakes.
Hours later when he read the message, Survé sent his driver to go and check the vehicle, which was securely parked behind locked gates.
Unusually, the vehicle was found unlocked. When the driver looked inside, he noticed a thick white substance smeared on the driver’s headrest.
Sekunjalo Investment Holdings and Independent Media Executive Chairperson Dr Iqbal Survé’s Mercedes-Benz was found with a white substance smeared on the headrest of the driver’s seat. Picture: Ian Landsberg/African News Agency (ANA)
The driver (whose name is being withheld) was advised to take a shower and to contact Survé immediately if he had any headaches or difficulty breathing. In the weeks preceding the incident, Survé said he had received several calls and messages indicating that there could be attempts on his life.
He said he was then advised to formally lodge a complaint with the police, which he did at the Table Bay Harbour police station that afternoon. The driver also gave a statement to police.
Sekunjalo Investment Holdings and Independent Media Executive Chairperson Dr Iqbal Survé’s Mercedes-Benz SE 500 vehicle was found with a white substance smeared on the headrest of the driver’s seat. Picture: Ian Landsberg AfrIcan News Agency (ANA)
Police spokesperson Novela Potelwa said: “The matter cited in your enquiry is currently under investigation by provincial detectives. Unfortunately details thereof cannot be divulged out of respect for the process currently being embarked upon.”
Weeks before the incident, two unidentified men entered Survé’s apartment building at 2am under the guise of coming to disinfect the premises.
He had just finished working when he saw a light through the door’s keyhole. Survé said it was unusual because lights in the corridor functioned with sensors.
When he looked through the keyhole, the men - who were not wearing any personal protective equipment - left and walked towards the lift, never to be seen again.
They were earlier captured on surveillance cameras as they entered the building. Security had no idea how they left the premises.
PAC president Naruis Moloto said it was clear that there were dark forces aimed at taking down Survé while ATM leader Vuyo Zungula said there was a group of people intent on removing people with an alternative voice.
Moloto said: “I have known Dr Iqbal Survé since the days of the Struggle. Once I met him when I was on a guerrilla operation in the Western Cape and he was a student activist at the university. His contribution to our democracy cannot be overlooked. It’s clear there are dark forces that still want to take him down as they still want to take down any force for change."
He said the PAC had always maintained that the apartheid security apparatus was never dismantled. He added they were concerned about Surve’s safety and that of his family.
Zungula said there was a group of people intent on removing people with an alternative voice and that this should not be allowed or tolerated.
“It’s clear that there is an organised group that wants to physically remove people with alternative views. I would think those were tendencies of the old government. It’s also clear that the powers that be are using the modus operandi as the apartheid government,” said Zungula.
Dr Sihle Sibiya, chairperson of the leadership forum and think-tank Insika Economic Movement, said that the threat to Survé's life was unacceptable and those making these threats should bear in mind that nobody was above the law.
We cannot allow the capitalists to maximise their gains by doing whatever that they have to do to make sure that there's no one that gets into the space that they want to dominate, Sibiya said.
He added that the attacks on Survé should serve as an eye-opener for the black child because no matter what they attempt to achieve, there was "always someone, somewhere, who had a threshold that limits which level they can go up to and not beyond".
"We are being put in a thermometer and someone is just measuring our level of hotness, which is a sad thing for an African child because we are saying that this economy needs to be inclusive. If it's inclusive, it needs to allow the African child to be able to participate in this economy because we know that in this country most of the economy is still in the hands of the few," Sibiya said.
He said that despite the economy being in the hands of this minority they still continued in their attempts to exclude those who tried everything to be meaningful players in the country's economy like Survé.
"We are being excluded and they're making sure that we don't have a voice because as we look at Dr Survé, he is one of those that is providing a platform that is able to represent a black child's voice out there and they want to make sure that they silence that voice. So as Africans in this country we must rise and say it cannot happen in our time that a black voice will be shut like that," said Sibiya.