Protesters in Alexandra township in Johannesburg shut down the township over lack of service delivery, 3 April 2019. Roads were barricaded and blocked with burning tyres, as hundreds marched demanding better basic services. Picture: Tracy Lee Stark
Africa’s “Richest Square Mile” should brace itself today, as residents of its neighbouring township are expected to bring the Sandton CBD to a standstill.
Last week’s protests, which saw residents of Alexandra barricade several roads with burning tyres, are expected to spill over into Sandton today, after Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba failed to respond to residents’ demands to meet with them. Residents had a meeting yesterday during which the plans for today’s shutdown of Sandton were discussed.
They were unwilling to share exactly where they would meet, or which routes they would take on their invasion of Sandton’s business district, since they did not want police to be tipped off on how to intercept them.
Johannesburg metro police spokesperson, Wayne Minnaar, confirmed yesterday that they would be in “a state of readiness”, with a large contingent of officers ready to be deployed to main routes to Sandton, as well as on minor roads.
He warned that certain roads may have to be blocked off if necessary. Meanwhile, politicians on both sides of the fence have used the Alexandra discontent to accuse each other of disregard for the plight of the poor in Johannesburg.
Democratic Alliance (DA) Gauteng premier candidate Solly Msimanga yesterday laid criminal charges against the ANC for allegedly inciting violence in Alexandra in Johannesburg.
“Today, I laid criminal charges against the ANC at the Alexandra police station for allegedly inciting violence in the community in order to influence the outcome of the general elections on May 8,” he said.
Msimanga said he had presented the police with “evidence of how the ANC was conspiring to instigate violence by coordinating plans with local affiliates on the ground to embark on violent protest actions and sow anarchy”.
He claimed the DA had seen WhatsApp messages from a South African National Civic Organisation (Sanco) group, “where activities aimed against Mashaba were coordinated”.
“Furthermore, we have seen a WhatsApp exchange where one of the organisers infers that their actions are being supported by the ANC. Further digging on social media revealed that the organisers were wearing ANC regalia,” he said.
“The protest is being led by ANC ward councillors and not the legitimate community leadership who have raised issues with the City of Joburg. The councillors have resist-ed any attempt to hand over a memorandum to the City of Joburg and have blocked efforts by the city to hold meetings with community leadership.
”The ANC hit back, accusing Msimanga of using “desperate antics”, “…instead of accounting to the people of Alexandra for the massive failures of Mashaba and the DA”.
They said the criminal charges were an attempt to deflect attention from the DA’s service delivery failures in the township.
Attorney Ulrich Roux responded to the DA’s charges saying: “The long and short of it is that you can’t charge a political party with an individual crime. They must be directly responsible for that.”
The people still perpetuated violence, having made their own decision to do that, whether there was pressure from the ANC. It was still the individual who must be held accountable.
Political analyst Ralph Mathekga also believed it would be difficult to prove the ANC violated electoral laws, or that they were responsible for the protests.
Mathekga said: “The mere fact that the party supported the protest is not necessarily proof that they are behind the subsequent violence.”
Additional reporting by ANA
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