Court interdicts EFF members after assaults
OVER a dozen EFF members who resorted to violent protest because they said their ancestors had been disturbed when the municipality cleaned up a graveyard have been interdicted from assaulting, intimidating or stopping municipal workers from doing their work.
According to court papers the SA Police refused to do anything to stop the bully tactics, the burning of tyres in the centre of Port Alfred or the disruption of private businesses and traffic. This had forced the municipality to resort to court for an interdict.
Municipal manager Rolly Dumezweni says police even went so far as to stop the municipal fire truck from extinguishing the burning tyres. He says a SA Police Services captain had informed him they had to first open a criminal case with the police before extinguishing the fire could be permitted. They had duly done so.
According to Dumezweni, the group of EFF members, led by EFF regional leader Xolisa Runeli, had threatened, assaulted and intimidated its staff and damaged property after he refused to meet their demand that community protection services director, Nombulelo Booyesen-Willy be suspended.
They alleged municipal workers had, on her direction, disturbed their ancestors and damaged tombstones while cleaning up a local graveyard.
But Dumezweni says he had personally inspected the graveyard and everything was in good order.
He accused the group of using vulgar language when accusing him of undermining their ancestors and warned him they intended causing chaos in the municipality.
The group had also disrupted a ratepayers’ meeting, assaulted some of the people attending it and ripped the clothes off another.
In the following days they had disrupted municipal activities and assaulted corporate services director Lazola Maneli when she had refused to heed their instruction that she leave her office.
Maneli said in an affidavit that they had manhandled her and dragged her out, beating her with their fists as they went. They hurled a bunch of keys in her face and her dress was torn in the fracas.
Booysen-Willy says the trouble first began in the first week of this month when she was meeting a Canadian delegation to discuss recycling in the municipality.
She said Runeli and a large group had entered the council chambers and abused and sworn at her. She said she had been deeply embarrassed by the undignified conduct and had quickly ended the meeting with the visiting Canadians.
Just 10 days later, they were accusing her of instructing staff to destroy graves, which meant they were no longer able to communicate with their ancestors. She said the cleaning of the graveyard followed months of complaints that people were being raped and robbed in the overgrown bush and alien vegetation around the graveyard.
She rejected allegations that any tombstones had been damaged or disturbed in the clean-up.
The Grahamstown High Court issued an interim interdict to prevent the group from unlawfully disrupting and disturbing the peace at the municipal offices as well as from intimidating, threatening or assaulting staff.
Instructing attorney Mark Nettelton confirmed they had been given to July 10 to show cause why the interdict should not be made final.
The same group were recently interdicted from going anywhere near internationally renowned aviation training institution 43 Air School after they threatened to burn it to the ground when a museum government aircraft sporting the old South African flag landed there.