Cape Town mayor Helen Zille will demand police protection before going into townships again — and she’s laying charges after being attacked at a meeting, News24 reported on Monday.
She was hit on the head and suffered bruises after being attacked at a community meeting in Crossroads on Saturday.
Zille had laid a charge of assault after African National Congress supporters hurled chairs at her and threatened her with a knife on Saturday.
The ANC said although the organisation was against violence, the incident must be read in context. Western Cape ANC chairperson James Ngculu reportedly accused Zille of heightening tensions in Crossroads.
He said Zille went to the area — not to apologise for the burning of an ANC councillor’s home — but to provoke the inhabitants.
Zille dismissed Ngculu’s allegations as ludicrous, saying she had been working in the community for 25 years to promote non-violence and would continue to do so.
However, this and previous incidents during which she was threatened by ANC supporters since she had become mayor, had forced her to reconsider her own safety while attending public meetings.
”In the past, I got into my car and drove to the townships,” Zille said.
”In future, I won’t do that without police protection.”
She said as Charles Khanku, local chairperson of the South African National Civics Organisation (Sanco) moved to open the meeting, a man stood up from among the ANC supporters and approached the stage with a chair in his hands.
”The man said he was one of the striking security guards and that I was doing nothing to help them. He hurled his chair at the people on stage,” the mayor said.
”The other ANC supporters also stood up threateningly and toyi-toyied towards the stage with raised chairs. They hurled the chairs at us.”
Security guards indicated that Zille should leave the hall, and as she was doing so, a chair hit her on the head.
Max Ozinsky, deputy secretary for the ANC in the Western Cape, said Zille had visited the area without telling the ANC councillor, Elese Depoutch, or the party’s leadership about it.
”She has been working in the area for the past six or seven years, and she has always supported those who disrupted the ANC meetings,” said Ozinsky.
Zille said although she had left a message for the ANC councillor, she did not need anybody’s permission to visit black communities.
”It’s my constitutional right. During the years of apartheid the police tried to stop me, and now it’s the ANC.” – Sapa