/ 26 February 2009

ANC convoy to enter Nongoma on Friday

ANC supporters plan to form a car convoy and drive to Nongoma on Friday to visit party members who were shot during a rally in the area last month.

African National Congress (ANC) supporters in KwaZulu-Natal plan to form a huge car convoy and drive to Nongoma on Friday to visit party members who were shot during a rally in the area last month, the party said on Thursday.

”We will visit Nongoma tomorrow. We felt that we had to visit our comrades who got injured during the rally,” said ANC provincial secretary Senzo Mchunu.

ANC MP and a member of the Zulu Royal family, Prince Zeblon Zulu, and his daughter-in-law Dorris Zulu were shot just minutes after they had left the rally. They both survived.

Six ANC members were severely assaulted when the buses they were travelling to the rally in were hit by stones.

There were serious tensions between the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and ANC supporters during the rally and the ruling party blamed the IFP for the attacks. The IFP denied the accusation.

Speaking during a press briefing in Durban on Thursday, Mchunu said they had been informed that Dorris was blind in one eye because a bullet had lodged in her eye socket.

Dorris was airlifted to a Durban hospital immediately after she was shot.

Supporters also planned to visit the ANC chairperson of the Nongoma sub-region, Bongani Ngcobo.

He was shot the day before the rally, allegedly by an IFP councillor, in full view of his colleagues at the ANC offices.

ANC provincial chairperson Dr Zweli Mkhize last week said his party was happy that suspects had been arrested in connection with all incidents.

”We are satisfied with the work done by the police. We think that they have handled the cases very well.” — Sapa