Chaos broke out outside the Randfontein Magistrates Court between ANC and EFF leaders and supporters on 25 November.
This comes after a botched ANC campaign that led to a 14-year-old boy and 17-year-girl being shot and injured in the Zenzele informal settlement on 22 November.
Following the arrest of a 49-year-old suspect who was positively linked to the shooting, both political parties gathered outside the court and interrupted court proceedings.
While ANC members said they were there to show support to their comrade who was wrongly arrested, EFF members said that they were there to see justice served.
According to a Zenzele resident who says that he is not affiliated with the EFF Mduduzi Qibi, the ANC supporters are responsible for the shooting of the children and need to account for it.
“Those people invaded our township to embark on an election campaign and we were not having it.
“We told them to leave our township until such a time that service delivery is implemented in the area and that is when they turned violent with us,” says Qibi.
Meanwhile, the ANC has fired back stating that EFF are nothing but criminals who believe in violence.
According to Elections Coordinator in Randfontein Sipho Handula, EFF members are nothing but hooligans and criminals.
“We are here to support our comrade who was wrongly arrested and we are not scared nor do we feel threatened by the EFF.
“Zenzele belongs to the ANC and we have every right to campaign there.
“The people of the area will not be fooled by the EFF and we are more than convinced that they will vote for us in the coming elections,” says Handula.
It is understood that ANC members took to the township to campaign for next year’ elections when EFF officials followed them around in a bid to disrupt their campaign.
Shortly after this, EFF counterparts from Bekkersdal and other neighbouring townships came flooding into the area and started attacking ANC members, trying to forcefully remove them from the township and that is when the violence broke out.
“The EFF criminals realized that the people are responding to our call as the ANC and not theirs and that is exactly what fueled entire act of hooliganism and criminality
“This goes to show that they are threatened by us,” says Handula.
Asked about the issue of the shooting, Handula says that he trusts that justice will prevail when the court determines who is responsible for the shooting.
An ANC ward councilor of the area has meanwhile been moved to a place of safety following the attacks.
According to Randfontein SAPS spokesperson Captain Appel Ernst, on the day, both groups of supporters became aggressive and stones were hurled at each other.
“We responded to the incident and managed to restore peace in the area.
“However, a firearm was seized at the scene and we managed to locate its owner and that led to the arrest of the suspect.
“He was charged with one count of attempted murder,” says Ernst.
She adds that police will be keeping a close watch on the area, which was previously riddled with unrest due to service delivery protests.
Watch this space as the story develops.
