ANC branch meeting turns violent

An Eastern Cape ANC branch annual meeting turned violent on Sunday with five members treated for stab wounds while others were hurt after being pelted with rocks.

The drama unfolded at the Bonkolo Dam Conference Centre in Komani, where ANC ward 18 branch members in Chris Hani region were meant to elect new branch leaders and delegates to the much-awaited provincial conference to be held in East London at the end of this month.

An angry mob, which wanted to access the conference venue, overturned a 2008 model Chevrolet Spark parked near the conference venue. The vehicle belonged to former ANC ward councillor Nombuyiselo Ndlebe.

The ward includes villages such as Lesseyton and Zingquthu.

One of the victims, Solethu Peter, said she was stabbed in her arms and pelted with stones that hit her on the head and upper body.

She said she lost her cellphone during the fracas. Peter claims she is a member in good standing and qualified to be inside the meeting venue but was not allowed in.

“My head is badly injured with open wounds,” she said, adding she would not be attending any ANC meetings in the near future.

Chris Hani regional secretary Lusanda Sizani confirmed the incident, which he described as “barbaric”.

He said he received a report that five people were hospitalised and he visited them at Frontier Hospital on Sunday night.

The victims were identified as Noxolo Zuba, Solethu Peter, Xolisa Dyubili, Songezo Vazi and Thandokazi Mooi. Komani police spokeswoman Captain Namhla Mdleleni said no cases were opened.

Ndlebe’s wife, Nombuyiselo, said: “I can confirm the car that was overturned belongs to my husband. He has since opened a case with the police.”

ANC members in the province are divided between those who support the current provincial chairman Phumulo Masualle to serve a third term, while others want provincial secretary Oscar Mabuyane to take over as chairman.

The Chris Hani REC had initially supported the retention of the top five members of the provincial executive committee.

However, following an ANC policy discussion meeting in June, some branches in Chris Hani voiced their support for Mabuyane.

The divisions were further deepened in the region as REC members belong to different factions.

Sizani supports Mabuyane while regional chairwoman Kholiswa Vimbayo is one of the brains behind Masualle’s campaign.

Mooi, one of the injured, described how the fight started.

“We were told only people who were members in good standing would be allowed to go in and vote. While we were waiting, stones were thrown and we did not know what had provoked that,” she said.

Sizani said one of the five victims was still in hospital, although the rest had been discharged.

“As the ANC, we condemn the incident because it was wrong constitutionally and politically to block other members from taking part in the conference,” he said.

“The ANC has young and elderly people and the latter will refuse to attend meetings if meetings are going to turn violent.

“We would like to apologise to the families of the victims. There are factions in the ANC and this is a result of those divisions.”

In his opening remarks at the meeting, the ANC’s NEC head of Eastern Cape deployees Zizi Kodwa warned members to behave. He said it was disturbing to see ANC members who would die for an individual.

“This is growing in the province and that is why we don’t name heritage sites after living people because they might change. We say, ‘don’t worship an individual but trust the ANC’.”