Protesters gathered in the Free State this week to call for the reinstatement of Terror Lekota as premier of the province. One of them spoke to Rehana Rossouw
DESPITE the rain and the chilly weather on Wednesday, four busloads of elderly Free State residents stood outside the provincial government offices to protest the African National Congress National Executive Committee’s decision to redeploy Terror Lekota.
Their determination so moved a civil servant that he decided, in the interests of his children, to share the reasons why he has decided to protest in the same spot every day from now on.
“I am a member of the ANC, so unfortunately I cannot give you my name. If I do so, I will be breaking my organisation’s ban on Free State members talking to the media and will probably have to forfeit my membership. I have not yet reached the stage where I am prepared to do so,” he said.
“This really angers me. ANC membership is not something cheap, people have laid down their lives for the right to carry that membership card. Yet now the movement is using it to make us toe their line. It is a sad state of affairs.
“My worry is that the message of the general community of the Free State is not getting out to the country, it is not being reflected in the media. I am also raising these things as a concerned citizen of the Free State.
“Tensions are mounting in this province. People feel Terror should not be lost to the Free State. There are people picketing outside the provincial government buildings. I can see them from my office, and they have moved me to make this lone campaign in the media.
“You should see them, they are grannies and grandpas. It is raining and cold outside, but they are worried that they are going to lose their premier, so they are braving the rain and have come with a clear message.
`The ANC has tried to neutralise such protests, but they have broken their word too. The ANC was built on respect for democracy, but it has decided to redeploy Terror without consulting its branches in the Free State.
“This decision is not a democratic one. As a member I have to stand up if my organisation makes a mistake. I am hoping the ANC will also acknowledge it has made a grave error. Everybody can make mistakes.
“I am talking about a principle here. It is useless to talk about democracy if you do not stick to your principles.
“I fear for my province. Everywhere you go people are disenchanted and confused. I can’t count for you how many people are unhappy with the way Terror was treated, but take my word for it, everyone is unhappy; the farmers, the civil servants, everyone.
“The civil servants will now be protesting every lunchtime. I will be joining them as well. Every day.
“What do we want? It doesn’t matter if the ANC doesn’t overturn its decision to redeploy Terror, as long as people know that he was respected. I am not against Ivy [Matsepe-Cassaburi, who has been mooted by the ANC as the new premier for the Free State]. I respect her as a person, but I want people to know that Terror is a victim.
“He was the new broom that was sweeping our province clean. That was the mandate he was given. Now he is a victim because he followed that mandate.
“This is my small campaign. The media is supposed to be watchdogs. Please, I beg of you, watch closely what is happening in the Free State. Say loud and clear that there are people who are unhappy with the situation.
“We are all going to be judged by history, myself included. I will know that I was outside the provincial government offices, picketing every day.
“But please, I want to show this newspaper article to my children one day so that they can know I spoke out when I saw this terrible injustice. That’s all I want.”