Spooks to sniff out who’s behind protests

http://www.mg.co.za/article/2010-03-19-spooks-to-sniff-out-whos-behind-protests

TARRYN HARBOUR | JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA – Mar 19 2010 08:28

ANC claims that service delivery protests are being coordinated came
under fire this week and, as Gauteng erupted in further protests after
last week’s surge, the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) has revealed
that it is monitoring the protests.

Residents of Ivory Park, Rabie Ridge, Kanana, Phomolong, Poortjie and
Ennerdale took to the streets this week. On Wednesday police arrested 30
people and charged them with attempted murder and malicious damage to
property in Poortjie, near Orange Farm.

At least 12 municipalities in Gauteng saw similar protests last week,
the Mail & Guardian reported.

“It seems there is a systematic pattern and that the protests are
coordinated with a clear objective to destabilise government,” Dumisa
Ntuli, the ANC Gauteng spokesperson, said at the time.

Asked this week who might be coordinating the protests, Ntuli told the
M&G there were “many forces”. “People from Sanco [the South African
National Civic Organisation], people from the party itself, intra- and
inter-alliance conflict …”

He said that there was “definitely a role played by members of the ANC
and ANC supporters; they were the main forces behind the protests. The
PAC [Pan Africanist Congress] also plays a role,” Ntuli said.

The SACP’s Gauteng spokesperson, Jacob Mamabolo, directed the Mail &
Guardian to its joint statement with the ANC, Cosatu and Sanco on
Wednesday this week which said that service delivery is not really
behind the protests. Rather, the protests are in communities where “a
lot of development is under way” and so are “more about calling for
speeding up of service delivery”.

Later Ntuli told the M&G that “inter-party conflicts” characterised the
protests.

But Cosatu’s spokesperson, Patrick Craven, told the M&G: “We don’t
believe there’s any mysterious third force behind the protests … The
people have genuine grievances about service delivery which was promised
to them.”

Dumisani Mthalane, the Sanco spokesperson, told the M&G the organisation
was “not part of the disruption”. “Government and civil society must
work together to identify problems. Sanco is there to keep government
accountable, so there is no way we would make the country ungovernable.

“We will protest if there is a problem, but we don’t support
destruction. Sanco marches are peaceful. We negotiate first and if that
fails, we protest,” he said.

Mfanelo Skwatsha, the PAC secretary general, said the party’s
involvement had been mainly in Sharpeville. He said, particularly with
Sunday’s commemoration of the 1960 Sharpeville uprisings looming, people
were unhappy about not getting the respect they felt they deserved.

“It is not just about service delivery but about how the government has
been conducting itself, especially with regard to Sharpeville,” he said.

Attributing the protests to factors such as people positioning
themselves before the local government elections next year was a
“smokescreen by the ruling party”, Skwatsha said.

“Very soon the whole country will be engulfed in service delivery
protests. The people have a lot of grievances.”

Brian Dube, the NIA spokesperson, told the M&G: “We are involved as
[the] state security agency in terms of our mandate but, due to the
operational nature of our work in this regard, we are not at liberty to
provide further details.”

In May 2005 then-intelligence minister Ronnie Kasrils said the NIA would
investigate the causes of the surge in violent service delivery
protests.

Target of the people’s anger

City of Johannesburg spokesperson Virgil James told the M&G that
Poortjie residents stoned the cars and house of their local ANC
councillor, Advocate Nyambe, in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
They then dragged him and members of his family, including two children,
from the house and assaulted them.

Nymabe’s house was “practically destroyed”, James said. “The councillor
was seriously injured; he’s currently in hospital in a stable condition.
The two kids were checked for internal injuries and discharged [later on
Wednesday].”

By Thursday morning Nyambe was still under police protection in a
hospital James declined to name, citing fear for the councillor’s
safety.

Captain Johannes Motsiri at the Orange Farm police station told the M&G
that “about 30 people” had been arrested on Wednesday following the
attack on Nyambe. They will appear in court on charges of attempted
murder and malicious damage to property.