THE ANC has called on the SA National Defence Force, the community at large, all political parties and people of colour to join it in the fight against high crime, especially by illegal immigrants.
On Wednesday the party staged pickets outside the Krugersdorp Magistrate Court, where a group of about 80 men appeared in connection with the brutal rape of eight women who were shooting a music video at a mining dump on West Village in Krugersdorp last week Thursday.
The party said the picket also formed part of the ANC's campaign against gender-based violence and femicide.
“We need to start to see the visibility of the army. We need all law enforcement agencies to be united. It can't just be organisations, ANC, EFF, IFP, DA, ActionSA, who take yo the street we need everyone we also need the people of colour to join us.
“Everyone must march black and white this thing does not just affect black people who are in townships, it affects every South African. If there is one thing we have to stand unite even beyond racial or political lines in this one,” said ANC national spokesperson Pule Mabe,
He said they could not afford to have people who said “Police Minister Bheki Cele must go”, and called for everyone to be united in fighting crime.
It was ironic that the ANC was now calling on the government to bring in the army, while illegal immigrants came to the country under the watch of the ANC.
Mabe said for the police to be effective they required communities to stand together.
“As the ANC said, we stand on the protest line today to help reclaim our own sovereignty to make sure that the ANC can reassert, consolidate, and reclaim its ability to lead society.
“South Africa is not a playground, we are a very serious country. Those that want to come to this country must do so legally. Illegal foreign nationals have to be taken back home because we can’t afford crimes being committed by undocumented foreign nationals. We are going to have a problem with foreign nationals for as long as they are illegal,” Mabe said.
He said the ANC in Gauteng was mounting a programme in this regard.
ANC Gauteng Secretary TK Nciza said they were serious about the issue of illegal immigrants, which was affecting the people.
He said the party in the province was mobilising society and all sectors to go to all police stations to picket.
“Enough is enough. We can't have people sleeping underground (mines) then committing such crimes. Our government should be serious now and we see their actions. Arresting so many people should be a positive step, but we don't want it to stop here. In all areas where there is illegal mining there must be action, starting from today,” said Nciza.
He said it can’t be that they react to issues but they must act before horrible incidents happen.
ANC NEC member Dakota Legoete said as the ANC they call on lawmakers in the country to visit this matter, saying there was a need to change legislation to protect South Africans.
“It is evident that some unkind neighbours started to harass our people and we cannot tolerate it anymore. It must be clear that if anything is illegal we are going to challenge it as South Africans because if people come all the way from their country and commit crime it cannot be tolerated,” said Legoete.
He added: “A police helicopter was shot by Zimbabweans recently and now it’s those from Lesotho, We call on DIRCO to talk to ambassadors of these countries before people resort to self help. If that happens the country is going to be in crisis and that is not what we want. We call on South Africans to remain calm as police are dealing with this matter,” he said.
ANC NEC member Nomvula Mokonyane who was part of the picket said lasting solutions should be found in regard to the problem of illegal immigrants.
“We have got four members of COSAS who were killed by the apartheid system at this very mine shaft and today we have our children who were sexually molested and they are not the only ones. A few weeks ago four other girls were raped and killed here. We live under terror because of these illegal immigrants,” Mokonyane said.
Gauteng Commissioner General Elias Mawela said they were confident about the gang-rape investigations.
“I am confident that we will definitely have a credible case on the evidence collected on the ground because immediately we were informed about the incident we mobilised a specialised unit. I can assure the public that we have collected good exhibits because we were also using our biological dogs whereby they could find semen and other things at the crime scene. We believe that what we have collected is going to assist us in putting together a solid case,” said Mawela.
He urged the public to be patient while the forensic officers collect DNA,