No-go areas still a no-no
THERE was a time, not so long ago, when the ANC fought against no-go areas. How unfortunate, then, that the party has now come to be associated with people who want to turn certain areas into no-go areas, as was the case on Sunday when former finance minister Pravin Gordhan was interrupted while he was about to address a gathering in KwaDukuza, north of Durban.
Protesters dumped buckets of faeces at the entrance of the Stanger Siva Sungum Hall before Gordhan arrived and when he started addressing the gathering, the protesters broke down a door, grabbed food meant for those at the gathering and threw it around. Some protesters even got involved in scuffles with people in the hall, forcing the fund-raising event to be abandoned.
It is unlikely that the ANC itself organised the protest, but there were people protesting who wore ANC colours.
That should be enough for the party to investigate and take action against members guilty of action unbecoming of the organisation.
The ANC Nelson Mandela led would have strongly condemned the fact that faeces were thrown at a religious site. So, too, would the ANC under Thabo Mbeki and Kgalema Motlanthe. Jacob Zuma has many faults, but no doubt he would not tolerate such behaviour.
So, the ANC must act. Failure to do so would mean the party condones such behaviour.
The police also need to answer for their inaction. They had ample warning that a protest was going to take place, but they failed to respond. A few traffic police officers showed up and, later, a few lowranking officers from the local station. None was trained for what they encountered, hence their reluctance to get involved.
The law is all that stands between us and chaos. And Sunday’s chaos reigned supreme.
It was a clear violation of the constitution which grants everyone rights to association and to form civic groups, as Gordhan stated after his speech was interrupted.
As a country that prides itself in having one of the best constitutions in the world, we ought to protect these rights.