TYPICAL- LIKE PARASITES- THE ANC ARE NOW STARTING TO DESTROY THEMSELVES

First casualty of ANC’s ‘civil war’
Dominic Mahlangu
Published:Aug 24, 2008

An ANC member, Victor Kibi, who was assaulted in a regional party meeting in the Siyanda region in the Northern Cape, has died.

Peace Ntuli, deputy regional secretary of the Siyanda region, said Kibi died yesterday after being rushed to hospital on Monday following scuffles between ANC members. He said it was unfortunate that party disputes could lead to a member’s death.

ANC heavyweight Ngoako Ramathlodi, who was at the meeting, had to flee the venue as the violence broke out.

Kibi, a former Umkhonto we-Sizwe member, is the first casualty of ANC-on-ANC violence. His death came just as the ruling party dispatched another delegation to the Northern Cape to help arbitrate the bitter struggle between party members ahead of the provincial conference scheduled to start on Tuesday.

ANC Northern Cape chairman John Block and his rival, provincial secretary Neville Mompati, are at each other’s throats — and their supporters engaging in fist fights.

Ramathlodi, tasked by Luthuli House to help the province plan for the conference, has his hands full . During the meeting on Monday, he, together with provincial heavyweights Tina Joemat and Hazel Jenkins, had to run for cover when the fight broke out among ANC members.

Two people, including Kibi, were hospitalised.

MEC for transport David Malusi and Yolanda Botha, provincial head of social services, sustained bruises during the fracas.

Last week the MEC for local government, Boeboe van Wyk, was assaulted at an ANC branch meeting in the Kalahari sub-region. His car was later damaged.

On Thursday 12 party members from Namaqualand and seven from Siyanda were suspended for misconduct. These people, critical of Block, tried to stop the two regional conferences in the Namaqualand and Siyanda regions by applying for a court interdicts at the Kimberley High Court.

Provincial executive member and chairman of the Pixley ka Seme region, Mac Jack, told the Sunday Times that the “comrades failed to utilise ANC internal structures to voice their dissatisfaction before they ran to court.

“All these members came to the regional conferences to disrupt the proceedings and had applied for the court interdicts opposing the conferences from taking place.”

However, the suspensions are seen by Mompati’s camp as a drive to purge members who are critical of how the party is being run in the province.

Mompati accuses Block’s supporters of having held branch general meetings privately in their houses.

“The reason why we applied for the court interdicts to stop the regional conferences . .. was because the branch general meetings that were supposed to nominate leaders were not transparent.”