CAPE TOWN — The Democratic Alliance (DA) in the Western Cape said on Sunday that it had laid a complaint with the South African Police Service (SAPS) after a group of African National Congress (ANC) supporters stoned the vehicle that the DA was travelling in during a motorcade in Gugulethu.
The DA said three of its supporters were also hit with stones.
The party said this incident came after another on Friday when ANC members attacked its activists in Site C, Khayelitsha, who were busy campaigning in the area. This incident was also reported to the police.
The DA and the ANC at the weekend campaigned in some of Cape Town’s townships as the two parties prepare to do battle at the polls on Wednesday. The ANC in the Western Cape held its final rally on Sunday in Nyanga, a township on the outskirts of Cape Town CBD. The Western Cape is the only province not under ANC control after the party lost out to the DA in 2009.
On Sunday, DA Western Cape leader Ivan Meyer said that the ANC in the Western Cape was panicking.
"They know they will lose again. But there is no excuse for endangering the lives of our supporters. The DA will not stand back and we will continue our campaign and be victorious on the 7th of May in the Western Cape. Let these incidents be even more of an incentive for DA-supporters to come out in throngs to vote for the DA and keep the ANC out," Mr Meyer said.
In depth: Election 2014
News, views and analysis of South Africa's national and provincial elections on May 7 2014He said democracy, the right to free and fair elections and freedom of association is a constitutional right and "anyone who undermines that is the enemy of our hard-fought liberation".
"This lack of tolerance by the ANC must come to an end. We call on the ANC-leadership to immediately take action against their members and reject this behaviour," Mr Meyer said.
The ANC was not immediately available on Sunday to comment on the charges laid by the DA.
Last month the so-called poo-protesters in Cape Town told Business Day that they would "everything in their power" to stop the DA from campaigning in townships such as Khayelitsha and Gugulethu.
The Khayelitsha-based Ses’khona Peoples’ Rights movement, which was behind some of the poo-protests that rocked Cape Town last year, said the DA and its leader, Helen Zille, had failed to deliver services to poor people in townships and "would not be allowed in our townships". The movement is led by expelled Cape Town councillor Andile Lili, and ANC councillor Loyiso Nkohla.
ANC Western Cape secretary Songezo Mjongile said on Friday that he was optimistic about his party’s chances at the polls.
"The ANC is prepared and confident. The Western Cape is up for the taking as the DA’s dwindling support fell below 50% and only the ANC offers real solutions," Mr Mjongile said.
"The ANC is ready to reverse the DA government’s focus on white interests (and) bring a better life for all. It is time for change in the Western Cape. We had enough of minority style rule. Enough is enough... We must all unite to liberate the Cape," Mr Mjongile said.
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