First blemish on Ramaphosa’s slate as Luthuli House outrage shocks

The run-up to Thursday’s State of the Nation address will forever be marked by yesterday’s images of a screaming elderly woman being viciously kicked in the ribs by an ANC branch secretary while she lay on the ground outside the ANC headquarters at Luthuli House.

Under the impression she and her companions on the back of the Lesotho-registered mini-truck were Black First Land First (BLF) supporters, they were laid into with stick and boot by ANC members.

The police did little to stop the beating handed out by the ANC in the melee, which left some people fleeing the assault shoeless. ANC spokesperson Khusela Diko said the assault was callous, degrading, and inhumane – and began the denials in an interview with the SABC.

“Those people who conducted that act do not act on behalf of the ANC and at this point I would be very sceptical to even call them members of the ANC,” Diko said.

The issue would be reported to “the leadership”. The man seen kicking the woman has been identified as ANC branch secretary Thabang Setona.

“The ANC Greater Johannesburg Region has noted with dismay and utter disgust the images and videos circulating of Thabang Setona, ANC branch secretary in Inner City, Zone 12, assaulting a woman outside Luthuli House this afternoon,” the statement by his branch read.

With 50 days in the saddle for Cyril Ramaphosa, it’s the first blemish on his presidential slate.

It was a surreal moment – outsiders demanding President Jacob Zuma stay, while ANC party faithful sung songs calling for Zuma to go and Ramaphosa to take over.

Yet, Diko had said earlier there was no crisis within the ANC when asked about the ongoing discussions around Zuma’s exit.

Police Minister Fikile Mbalula said on Twitter, protest was a human right which was enshrined in the constitution and “we” would defend and protect it.

“What we won’t do, however, is protect and watch as criminality unfolds. We not only condemn the violence and barbaric nature some protesters conducted themselves with, we will act,” Mbalula said.

Meanwhile, of all people who could have received the BLF’s memorandum, it was ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule, who is up to his neck in state capture allegations, who was sent out.

He was pelted with plastic water bottles from ANC supporters who called him a sellout, while he scurried back inside where the top six of the party’s national executive committee were meeting.

While all this was playing out, Zuma paid a visit to King Goodwill Zwelithini in KwaZulu Natal in a “long-standing courtesy meeting”, the Presidency said.

– amandaw@citizen.co.za

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