Thrown out for wearing red

LIMPOPO – WEARING red T-shirts seemingly got two men thrown out of the University of Venda stadium last Tuesday during a Youth Day celebration.

Ronald Masindi, chairperson of the ANCYL Mailausungwa branch in the Vhembe district and secretary of Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) in Musina, who were a red Popcru T-shirt, was escorted out of the stadium by police officials, who claimed he was being disruptive.

But Masindi claimed the police acted on instructions from ANC officials to have him removed from the stadium, and condemned the leadership of the ANC in the Vhembe region for misusing state resources to fight political battles.

“I know the police were instructed by ANC officials just because we differ politically. When we raise issues regarding service delivery, they target us, that is why they had me thrown out,” said Masindi.

“Throwing me out of the stadium in front of thousands of people was humiliation at its best. A lot of people want to know what happened. The truth is we were instructed to applaud Vhembe ANC officials when they took their seats, but I refused. I then received a tip-off from comrades from the Thulamela Municipality that senior officials were angry and wanted me kicked out of the stadium,” he said.

Masindi said when asked why he was being kicked out, the police claimed he was disruptive.

“They told people that I was making a noise. There is no normal person who can make a noise alone. I’m not so insane that I can make a noise by myself or disrupt a government event. Even if it was a political event, I wouldn’t disrupt it.”

He said after the police were confronted by other ANCYL members, they apologised and asked him to return to the stadium.

“I questioned who gave them the instruction, but they remained mum. It is painful to see the police being misused by politicians. The ANC is for all, not for certain individuals who want to enrich themselves. There are politicians who are using ANCYL members to pursue their own agendas,” said Masindi.

Spokesperson for the Thohoyandou SAPS, Maj Mashudu Malelo said they didn’t open any case against Masindi and that the police don’t work on instruction from politicians.

“The police work on regulation, standing order and acts, not on isolating political parties,” said Malelo.

Meanwhile, during the Youth Day celebration, premier Stanley Mathabatha condemned young people who burned schools and books during service delivery protests.

He said the burning of schools and books was not beneficial for South Africa.

Mathabatha encouraged young people to study engineering courses that were aligned to the country’s social and economic priority goals.

“Winning a tender is not a career and lasts for only two or three years. The youth of 1976 fought against the use of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction at schools. We don’t hate Afrikaans, but it should be equal to other languages,” he said.