Members of the African National Congress have laid about 20 charges of intimidation, assault and disruption of political events against other political parties in KwaZulu-Natal in the run-up to the April 14 election, the ANC said on Monday.
Provincial head of ANC security, Bheki Cele, said the charges had been laid against members of the Inkatha Freedom Party and the Democratic Alliance.
The latest charge led to the arrest of an IFP councillor in Pomeroy, a former no-go area in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands, on Saturday. Local police said on Monday that the councillor was released on a warning and would appear in court on Tuesday.
Cele said the ANC was conducting an election campaign in the town when a woman wearing an ANC T-shirt was pulled into a bottle store and assaulted.
”Luckily the police were there and pulled the woman out of the bottle store. We told her to lay a charge but she was scared because she was told she would die. But she did lay the charge later,” he said.
Cele said his party was also unhappy about IFP posters been plastered on the outside walls of the ANC’s office in nearby Tugela Ferry.
”This is unacceptable, the ANC office is private property… the ANC pays rent for it.”
He said a meeting was held with the local IFP and police members, where it was decided that the posters would be removed.
”But I went back [later in the day] and the IFP posters were still there. I was told that the IFP said somebody would die if the posters were removed,” Cele said.
Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula told a radio station on Monday he was concerned about the number of incidents of intimidation in the province. He said people were living in fear due to the levels of intimidation and tensions in the province were ”quite high”.
However, Nqakula said, security forces believed they would be able to handle ”anything that arises”.
The IFP was not immediately available for comment. – Sapa