Hawks probe claim of ANC link in Tshwane protests

THE Hawks are investigating whether senior ANC members in Tshwane are behind the wave of civil unrest in the capital city. “I can confirm that arrests will be made soon of people implicated,” Hawks spokesman Hangani Mulaudzi said.

“Our investigations are at an advanced stage and we have names of people who allegedly orchestrated the violence,” he said.

ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe told broadcaster eNCA that the party had names and pictures of members of the party who had held a meeting about disrupting Tshwane following the party’s announcement that former cabinet minister Thoko Didiza was its mayoral candidate for the city.

The hunt for the alleged instigators of the protests – which saw two people killed overnight‚ at least 20 buses torched‚ businesses looted and roads barricaded – gathered speed yesterday as details emerged of an allegedly clandestine meeting at a hotel where a plot was allegedly hatched on Monday to render the city ungovernable.

The Pretoria News reported that the meeting had been chaired by a senior ANC official and attended by branch leaders and ward councillors who were opposed to the appointment of Didiza.

State Security Minister David Mahlobo also hinted in a radio interview that the party had information that the protests had been sparked by disgruntled ANC members.

The ANC Youth League earlier placed the blame for the upheavals at the door of current mayor and regional chairman Kgosientso Ramokgopa.

Cosatu joined the hunt after reports about the meeting at Court Classique Hotel in Arcadia.

Cosatu spokesman Sizwe Pamla said the federation was concerned about the alleged involvement of “leaders of the movement in collusion with tenderpreneurs” in the violent protests.

“The movement needs to cleanse itself of reactionaries‚ opportunists‚ flatterers‚ patrons‚ factionalists and hangers-on‚ who are infiltrating and tearing the movement apart,” he said.

“This narrow focus on internal factional battles by the movement and the never-ending scandals‚ political violence and killings are not only weakening the movement but killing it and its political capacity to lead society.”

ANC spokesman in Tshwane Teboho Joala challenged anyone with information about any clandestine meetings related to the protests to report details to the police.

Was it politics or money responsible for the ongoing chaos and looting?

That has been one of the burning questions in the city for the past three days.

Despite politics being the spark that caused the protests‚ the level of looting raised serious concern for the government‚ police and the ruling party.

In the last 24 hours‚ looting and damage of property was the order of the day in Mamelodi‚ Atteridgeville‚ Mabopane and Hammanskraal.

Foreign shop owners took refuge in a police station when residents ran amok‚ looting shops in Mamelodi West.

Everything in the shops was stripped. Cables‚ bulbs and crates were taken. Shop owners were left with no choice but to take their stock and flee.

“Let them go and never come back. We do not want them here‚” a looter said as she snatched a light bulb.

Police struggled to contain the sporadic looting around Mamelodi.

When most shops had been looted‚ the mob moved to the Menlyn Mall but were stopped in their tracks by police.

The mall was immediately closed and police remained inside.

Protesters refused to leave the area outside the mall along Solomon Mahlangu street‚ but by mid-afternoon the situation had been calmed.

“There is no way this can be about Sputla,” a police officer in Mamelodi said. “These people just want to loot the businesses in this area. They are using the protest as an opportunity.”

Police confirmed that two people had been killed overnight in Mamelodi‚ without providing details.

In Mamelodi East, about 20 buses had been set alight the day before and as the charred remains lay in the street‚ residents stripped what was left to sell as scrap metal.

“My brother‚ this is business for us‚” one man who claimed to have already earned R2 000 from the scrap, said. – TMG Digital