The ANC is Now Above the Law

Sent to The Star, Johannesburg, Thu 13/02/2014 14:54

Sir

I was part of the DA’s 12 February March for Jobs.

The march was planned for 4 February but Johannesburg Metro Police refused permission.  The DA had to go to court to have the decision overturned.

Ill-informed ANC members gathered at Luthuli House on 4 February and, when they found there was no march, tried to disrupt preparations for a DA fund-raising dinner that evening at City Hall.  There were no arrests.

On Wednesday 12^th, the DA held an approved, legal, orderly, and unarmed march.  Even the burly security personnel carried no visible weapons.  Some marchers wore hollow plastic builders’ helmets.  These are designed to give construction workers a measure of head protection against small falling debris.

The ANC neither applied for nor received permission to march.  Yet it bussed in supporters form as far afield as Kwa-Zulu Natal.  As seen in photographs, many were armed with bricks, batons, and other dangerous weapons including petrol bombs.  The SAPS and Metro Police appear to have made no effort to disarm them or to stop the busses.

Beyers Naude Square had been approved by the Metro as the destination for the DA’s march.  This was agreed to by the ANC in court that morning.  Nevertheless, ANC supporters occupied the square: SAPS and Metro Police, instead of telling them to leave and then arresting those that did not, prevented the DA march from reaching its destination.

We on the DA march turned back a block short at Rissik Street, and returned peacefully to our destination to be addressed by Helen Zille.

Meanwhile, ANC supporters were trying to attack DA marchers and petrol bombing the police who stopped them.  ANC leaders have attempted to excuse this.  Four arrests have been reported.  There is no talk of the ANC or its many supporters being prosecuted for an illegal march and thuggery on a grand scale.

It is clear that the ANC has become a party of intolerance and violence, while the DA is peaceful, law-abiding, and democratic.

It also seems from police behaviour that there is one law for the ANC and another for other organisations.