Premier Releases Information on ANCYL Faeces Attacks "Task Team"

Media statement by Western Cape Premier Helen Zille

Today we reveal the names of the ANC Youth League “task team” that is leading the campaign to make Cape Town ungovernable. One aspect of this campaign involves faeces attacks in various locations, including regularly blocking a major highway and access to the airport.

Ironically, these incidents have only highlighted the good delivery that the City of Cape Town is rolling out to communities in need because the attackers have used the human waste contents of storage containers of portable flush toilets after breaking their seals. The containers are stolen from outside homes, where they are collected three times a week for emptying and cleaning. The City has been making the portable flush toilets available to households who want them to eliminate the last remnants of the bucket system in our informal settlements – a project unequalled in the whole country.

This spate of faeces attacks is clearly well-co-ordinated and politically-motivated, forming part of the ANC Youth League’s self-declared and oft-repeated “ungovernability campaign”. Today we are releasing information we have gathered and details of compelling evidence which shows just this.

The timeline of faeces attacks below is only a sample of over 100 similar attacks that take place almost daily, mostly on the N2 highway in the early hours of the morning.

This surge of incidents and self-professed declarations in the media by the organising ringleaders of these attacks is revealing in itself and the dots that we can connect show the true picture of what has been going on:

• Monday 20 May 2013: Gugulethu residents block NY1 and N2 highway with rocks, burning tyres and dump faeces on the road
• Monday 3 June 2013: Faeces dumped at entrance of the Provincial Legislature, 7 Wale Street, Cape Town
• Tuesday 4 June 2013: Faeces dumped at community hall in Khayelitsha at Green Economy event
• Tuesday 11 June 2013: Faeces dumped in the entrance hall of the Protea Assurance Building, Greenmarket Square
• Thursday 25 June 2013: Faeces dumped at Cape Town International Airport
• Saturday 27 June: DA activist Luzuko Mngqibisa's home attacked and burned down
• Saturday 27 June 2013: Faeces dumped at Belville Civic Centre
• Sunday 28 July 2013: N2 highway faeces attack near Mew Way turnoff
• Monday 5 August 2013: Faeces dumped at entrance of the Provincial Legislature, 7 Wale Street, Cape Town
• Tuesday 6 August 2013: DA Community Help Desk attacked, Blue Hall, Site C, Khayelitsha. Councillor Steven Vuba (DA) is hit with faeces in the attack
• Wednesday 7 August 2013: N2 attacked near Khayelitsha at Mew Way exit
• Sunday 11 August 2013: So-called “Woman’s Day” N2 faeces attack near Khayelitsha

All of these faeces attacks and others are the latest manifestation of a longstanding threat from the ANC Youth League to make the city and province "ungovernable" in the run-up to the 2014 general elections.

Whenever the ANCYL has announced a new wave of ungovernability tactics, a spate of destructive riots has broken out. When the ANCYL later announces the suspension of these activities, they stop. This cause-and-effect link between the announcement of ANCYL intentions and public results tells a clear story.

Ringleaders of Faeces Attacks and Their ANC and ANC Youth League Links

We have been gathering information about the ringleaders of the faeces attacks. Today we are releasing that information, as well as supporting video footage.

A key point to underscore is that we are dealing with a small handful of agitators here – our latest count shows them to be 11 individuals – and they do not speak on behalf of the “community”. Indeed, if one watches the video footage of the disruptions on the N2 (as we will shortly), there are more journalists present than protestors.

These individuals are:

• Sithembele Majova
• Sibusiso “Mqithi” Zonke
• Nangamso “Kavin” Tshutha
• Khaya Kama
• Bongile Zanazo
• Bongani Ncombolo
• Andile Lili
• Loyiso Nkohla
• Mario Wanza
• Sulyman Stellenboom
• Songezo Mvandaba

I will now hand over to one of my colleagues to present our dossier on these individuals and their activities in driving the campaign of ungovernability. The PowerPoint presentation is publicly available online at the following link: www.westerncape.gov.za/political-violence

ANC Culpability in Faeces Attacks Disruptions

The worn-out refrain of the ANC and the ANCYL regarding these ungovernability tactics of "washing their hands" of culpability has been to claim that either the perpetrators are not ANC or ANCYL members or to say these attacks are not carried by them in their capacities as ANC or ANCYL members. Some of the ringleaders themselves have feigned this disingenuous distance from their political organisations when proudly declaring their activities to the media.

These statements miss the point entirely. The fact is that identified members of the ANC and ANCYL have perpetrated criminal and disruptive actions and publicly confessed to them. It is the responsibility of these organisations to bring charges against their members when they become aware of this and follow their respective internal disciplinary processes. Anything less is tacit approval of their actions and can only be interpreted as condoning these faeces attacks.

ANC leader in the Western Cape, Phillip Dexter, was quoted in a news report on Wednesday 28 August as saying, “We have said time and again that members of the ANC who are involved in anti-social behaviour will be subject to disciplinary hearings. Protesters who partake in these illegal protests are not acting on behalf of the ANC.”

Most of the individuals listed above are ANC members and we now call on the ANC to act against them and subject them to disciplinary hearings. It is very unlikely that these faeces attack ringleaders would be so brazen about their activities or would give media briefings and invite camera crews to film their activities if they believed they would face action brought against them by the ANC for these activities.

This assumption of impunity results partly from the lack of action taken against ANC councillors involved in rioting, and well known cases of rioting and public violence in which no prosecution was brought. The fact that such ANC public representatives as councillors Luvuyo Hebe and Khaya Yozi have faced no internal consequences for their speech and actions in the course of past ungovernability campaigns since 2012 speaks volumes about the ANC’s position on the ungovernability campaign and indeed their approval of it.

Action Steps to Address the Problem

The only way to ensure public order and respect for the rule of law in a constitutional dispensation is for lawbreakers to be brought to justice and convicted in a law consistently. This requires thorough investigation and evidence-gathering by the police so that arrests can be effected and cases can be brought to the courts for prosecution.

That is why, as a first and appropriate step, we have handed this information to the South African Police Service for further investigation. They must also obtain statements from the many eyewitnesses and the suspects themselves, subpoena their cellphone records (since they claim to organise via cellphones) and conduct normal police investigations. What we have is prima facie evidence as the basis for investigation. That is why we have submitted it to the police.

We also reiterate our call on the ANC and ANC Youth League to take swift and meaningful disciplinary action against their identified members involved in past and future attacks and to co-operate with the police in their investigations by submitting relevant information. All roleplayers have a part to play in ensuring public order and safety.

Minister Plato has been asked to attend a meeting with a delegation of the ANC Youth League tomorrow (Saturday 31 August). The list of attendees includes three members of the faeces attacks task team. We will not meet with people whose proclaimed aim is to make the city ungovernable.

Conclusion

Not every public demonstration that occurs in Cape Town is part of the ungovernability campaign. Both the City and Province recognise that there are genuine grievances in communities. Although service delivery in this province is the best in South Africa (in spite of almost 30% population growth between censuses), we do not claim that it is a perfect record and we are sensitive to the frustrations of people living in conditions of poverty. We are doing our best to address these problems of which portable flush toilets are a part in places where it is impossible to lay underground pipes.

However that is never an excuse for destructive riots that significantly threaten public order and health at great cost. The attacks have been getting increasingly violent and more and more include stone-throwing at vehicles and innocent members of the public. In addition, Police Minister Mthethwa and Provincial Police Commissioner Lamoer have identified such violent riots as a major drain on policing resources.

This situation must now end. We will have another press conference next week to report on progress and the further actions the City and Province will take to deal with the issue.