Pretoria - Mayor Solly Msimanga has warned that he will press charges against the ANC Youth League (ANCYL) if the death threats the movement allegedly made against him continued.
This followed a post by someone he said was a “well known ANC Youth League leader” on his Facebook account on Wednesday at 6.30pm.
It read: “Solly, former Mamelodi beauty king, we are coming 4 you this Friday, bloody die white puppet.”
Msimanga said this kind of utterance was completely unacceptable and had since been deleted by the individual who originally posted it.
“While I have, at this stage, opted not to press charges against the Facebook account holder, I will not hesitate to do so if this conduct persists,” he said.
The comment was probably made in anticipation of the march scheduled for tomorrow during which the ANCYL Greater Tshwane region threatened to shut down the city.
The regional ANCYL, its alliance partners as well as former EPWP - Vat Alles - workers have vowed to bring the city to a standstill when they march to Tshwane House and the Union Buildings.
The former contract workers and the ANCYL are demanding the reinstatement of those whose contracts had expired.
ANCYL regional chairperson and metro councillor Lesego Makhubela said the DA had promised people jobs in the run-up to the election, instead they have put them out of employment.
According to Msimanga, the City had not received a formal application for the march.
Should it continue it would be unprotected and unlawful, the mayor said. “No application has been received to our knowledge and thus the march will be unprotected and illegal.”
Msimanga urged property owners to sue the ANCYL if there was any damage to properties.
“Should there be any loss on businesses, we will hold them responsible. I encourage business to sue them,” he said.
Metro Police spokesperson Nonhlanhla Mgiba also confirmed that no application had been received for the planned march.
Mgiba said the City had only received a request for a march by former EPWP “Vat Alles” workers and not the ANCYL.
“No application was received from the ANCYL as the law dictates. Therefore, the publicised protest will be treated as illegal in the event it takes place as professed,” she said.
But Makhubela reiterated that it was all systems go. “We are 100% ready for the the march and we have been approved. We applied for it on January 3, so it is all system go. Tshwane will be shut down come Friday,” he said.
The threat that was posted on mayor Solly Msimanga timeline.
He later took to Facebook and posted: “The feedback we are getting is that we will need 150 buses for the Friday march. We will pull one of the most historic and big marches on Friday as we shutdown Tshwane and make a bold statement that indeed it’s the people who are in charge”
Makhubela - taken to task by the DA last week for statements which the party said encouraged the use of petrol bombs - said the information being channelled by the DA was nothing more than hogwash.
The protest is also for the plight on informal traders who, Makhubela said, were constantly harassed by the metro police.
But the Unified South Africa Traders, which comprises various informal traders organisations, distanced itself from the march.
The organisation said it was not informed about the march, therefore deemed it illegal and would not be taking part in it.
“The ANC has failed us in the past years, and always uses us for votes. They like to divide and conquer,” said Ramodike Morema, an informal trader and deputy chairman of the Unified Tshwane Traders.
He said the purpose of the march was not to fight for informal traders, but to fight for tenders.
“It will be business as usual for informal traders.
“We are not part of this nonsense,” he said.
The march is scheduled to start from Burgers Park at 8am and proceed to Tshwane House where the first memorandum will be delivered.
The protesters will then head to the Union Buildings where a second memorandum will be submitted.
Routes to be affected include Leyds Street, Pretorius Street, Nelson Mandela Drive, and Nana Sita, Madiba and Thabo Sehume streets.