Occupy Luthuli House’s attempts to take over party headquarters were foiled by a group of defenders. “You can’t come to Luthuli House in numbers and threaten to occupy‚ and expect members of the ANC not to do anything about it‚” said Maine.
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This was the dilemma faced by Gwede Mantashe at Luthuli House yesterday when he called for the organisers of the movement to submit their memorandum to him.
Members of South Africa’s African National Congress (ANC) on Monday demanded that President Jacob Zuma step down from power.
When she interviewed the “MK vets” about why they they acted violently, journalist Nomsa Maseko, meanwhile, said one answered: “I’ve been trained to kill 50 people a day and I’ll shoot them all”.
The movement claims all National Executive Committee (NEC) members have failed to provide leadership “in this current trajectory and continued to serve factions rather than the ANC, rather than holding the president accountable”.
The group has also requested a consultative conference by December and to disband the fees commission, saying it undermined conference’s resolutions of free and quality education.
On Saturday, police began deploying water canons and barbed wire for barricades on streets around Luthuli House.
Organizers of the #OccupyLuthuliHouse demonstration said in a statement on Monday that it was scaling down its mass protest due to threats of violence “through state machinery used to discourage our cause”.
The ANC headquarters was greeted by a number of protesters carrying placards that read; “We want Zuma out”.
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Zuma’s supporters who pledged to defend the building – #DefendLuthuliHouse – are members of the Umkhonto weSizwe Military Veterans’ Association (MKMVA), and turned up outside the party’s headquarters dressed in military camouflage uniforms. “So we view it as a security threat as well to say you are coming to occupy Luthuli House, because you can not stop Luthuli House from functioning”.
