OWN CORRESPONDENT, Pietermaritzburg | Thursday 7.00PM.
THOUSANDS of African National Congress members in KwaZulu-Natal have marched to the offices of the KwaZulu-Natal Attorney General Tim McNally to demand his resignation. Members of the SA Communist Party and Congress of South African Trade Unions also joined the march.
The protesters handed a memorandum to the Deputy Minister of Justice, Manto Shabalala, demanding that McNally be replaced and his office be occupied by skilled people whose commitment to the new South Africa cannot be doubted.
The memorandum said attacks on the people of Richmond in the Midlands, and other attacks, showed that counter-revolutionary elements were fomenting political conflict. It said hit squads in the province were “unexposed”. “The criminal justice system in the province of KwaZulu-Natal has failed to bring these perpetrators to book and they have been allowed to continue their reign of terror unchallenged,” the memorandum said.
The ANC said the march is part of a broader mass campaign to demand the transformation of the justice system in the province. McNally was accused of failing to monitor police investigations and to implement a proper witness protection plan.
The Inkatha Freedom Party condemned the call for McNally’s resignation, and said it will continue to offer him support.