‘Vets there to protect president and the movement’

Umkhonto We Sizwe Military Veterans Association (MKMVA) chairman Kebby Maphatsoe has defended the presence of former MK members around Luthuli House in Johannesburg.

Maphatsoe told Saturday Citizen the ex-combatants were there to protect President Jacob Zuma and the ANC against those who wanted to remove him by force. The members, wearing their usual green and brown camouflage uniform, occupied Pixley KaSeme Street (formerly Sauer Street) in Johannesburg.

According to police, about 2 500 ANC supporters and 700 MKMVA members gathered around the ANC headquarters.

“We are here to protect Luthuli House and support President Zuma. He is talking about radical economic transformation and any attack against him is an attack against this agenda, which is aimed to end unemployment and stabilise the economy of this country,” Maphatsoe said.

He refuted claims that MK members planned to shoot the anti-Zuma protesters coming to Luthuli House as part of the national protest action. “But we don’t want anyone near Luthuli House. They can march in other squares around the city, but not here,” he said, adding that if anyone attacked Zuma, it would also be an attack on the ANC.

“We will defend our president and our movement by all means possible.”

Maphatsoe said the nationwide protests were part of an attempt to remove the black democratically elected government and to defeat the ANC’s national democratic revolution.

“We say no to their regime change and anti-revolution tactics. We say no to their call for our Zuma to resign,” he said.

Regarding an earlier incident in which four white supporters of Save SA campaign were nearly assaulted by ANC supporters on Beyers Naude Square, Maphatsoe said the fact that the MK members saved the four from the attack indicated that his members were there on a peaceful mission.

The four white people – two men and two women – were rescued by MKMVA members, Joburg metro police and public order policing officers.

Meanwhile, buses with KZN registration plates kept on dropping ANC supporters at nearby Albertina Sisulu Street, adjacent to Luthuli House. Many of the MK members originated from Zuma’s home province.

But Maphatsoe vehemently denied that some of the young MK members among them were new recruits who were given a military crash course to be deployed to fight the anti-Zuma protests.

The mood remained tense and dangerous throughout the day.