/ 9 February 2014

DA to assist family of slain Sebokeng protester

The DA's Gauteng premier candidate Mmusi Maimane.
The DA's Gauteng premier candidate Mmusi Maimane.

The Democratic Alliance would help a family move the body of a slain protester from Gauteng to the Free State, said DA Gauteng premier candidate Mmusi Maimane on Sunday.

"We would help the family with moving the body of Lerata [Rabolila] from Sebokeng to Ficksburg where he is originally from," said Maimane.

He was visiting the family of Rabolila who was shot and killed during violent protests in the Boiketlong informal settlement in Sebokeng, south of Johannesburg.

"We would help wherever we can but we would certainly help them with the money of moving the body, because it's our responsibility as South Africans to help each other."

Maimane encouraged the residents of Boiketlong to vote despite what had happened on Wednesday.

"Let's register to vote for change. We need to have different kinds of protests not protests about basic needs such as water and electricity."

"Zuma relaxing while SA burns"
Earlier, Maimane addressed around 50 people outside the Lefika primary school in Sebokeng.

He told the crowd President Jacob Zuma was relaxing in Nkandla while the country burns. 

"People are dying during protests and the president or his senior staff fail to address their people. This is not the ANC of Nelson Mandela," he said. 

He said he would mobilise the community of Boiketlong to register to vote.

"We want to show the current government that the pen is mightier than the bullet," said Maimane. –Sapa