ANC questions IFP’s role in Durban CBD protests that turned violent

· The South African

The African National Congress (ANC) has accused the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) of political hypocrisy and opportunism, alleging that its leaders lent their support to the protests that turned violent in Durban on Thursday, 8 October.

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The IFP led a march against gender-based violence (GBV) in Durban on Thursday, coinciding with protests during which several vehicles and buildings were torched.

ANC SLAMS IFP OVER DURBAN CBD PROTESTS

The ANC said the march was ostensibly intended to express dissatisfaction with the recent Constitutional Court judgment on asylum seekers and the pressure its implementation had placed on the Refugee Reception Office. However, it said the demonstration “quickly turned into an exercise in intimidation, destruction and naked xenophobia”.

The party said the events in Durban on Thursday could not be regarded as a legitimate protest, alleging that asylum seekers were forced out of queues with sticks and sjamboks, vehicles were set alight, shops were looted and vandalised, and buildings were torched.

“This is not the time for cheap political point-scoring but for astute leadership. We single out in particular [and] rebuke IFP leaders who lent their faces and their voices to this march,” ANC KwaZulu-Natal spokesperson Sifiso Sonjica said.

“The IFP is not an opposition party standing outside the government. It is a partner in the Government of National Unity and the Government of Provincial Unity in KwaZulu-Natal. It holds seats in the national Cabinet and leads the GPU. It has every institutional platform available to raise its concerns about the judgement and its consequences. It sits in the very structures responsible for managing those consequences,” Sonjica said.

Sonjica said IFP leaders had nevertheless chosen to march against decisions that their own government was legally required to implement.

“This is political hypocrisy and political opportunism of the highest order. The IFP cannot govern in the morning and march against its own government in the afternoon. It cannot enjoy the privileges of the office while running away from the responsibilities that come with it,” he said.

OFFICIALS VISIT DURBAN TO ASSESS DAMAGE

Meanwhile, Acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia, KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi and KZN Premier Thami Ntuli visited the Durban CBD to assess the damage following the violent protests.

Cachalia said South Africans had the right to protest and acknowledged that concerns surrounding the Constitutional Court judgment and immigration required attention. However, he condemned the violence and vandalism.

“The Constitutional Court judgement is making it difficult for police to deal with marches that may well get out of control as we saw on Thursday if we don’t have the adequate opportunity to plan together with the organisers as the march unfolds,” he said.

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