Five hundred local residents including school learners heeded the ANC youth league’s call and participated in an anti-crime march which saw the party’s high profile leaders handing over a petition to the magistrate’s court.
Five hundred local residents including school learners heeded the ANC youth league’s call and participated in an anti-crime march which saw the party’s high profile leaders handing over a petition to the magistrate’s court.
The march coincided with the court appearance of Zolani Myeki, the man suspected of killing the party’s regional secretary Oscar Dondashe on Sunday, 12 July. Reading the petition before handing it over to court officials, Scara Njadayi, the ANC regional chairperson said the marchers’ demands included that the suspects for Dondashe’s murder not be granted bail, seeking urgent intervention by the justice system in uprooting the Mngcongo family.
This stems from the community believing one of the people arrested in connection with the murder has Mncongo as a surname. He desribed the Mngcongos as being "a source of corruption, murder, rape and all evil deeds in our community since time immemorial".
The marchers danced and sang in front of the court and songs and slogans sought to threaten the perceived suspects with violence such as "Ndifung’ isibhozo isiMncongo siyahamba (I swear the Mncongo family will leave this town). The party’s leaders warned the crowd to remain outside the court building as only leaders were able to attend the court proceedings.
Njadayi announced that Stella Ndabeni, ANC national working committee member and Oscar Mabuyane, the provincial deputy chairperson were also attending the march. He added that the office of the party’s president Julius Malema has confirmed his attendance at Dondashe’s funeral which will be taking place tomorrow.
He said Dondashe was a disciplinarian which did the ANC proud. "Today let’s show that we’re not here to celebrate a thug’s life but a selfless revolutionary who was brutally murdered," he said.
Appealing to the youth to refrain from taking intoxicants such as liquor and drugs, Eric Dondashe, Oscar’s uncle, said he was sad that somebody could kill his nephew for a cellphone. He maintained that his family is appealing for calm in the community so that the law could take its own course. "One must respect the Constitution because we voted for constitutional democracy," he said.
Sisanda Papu, a Grade 9 learner from Nombulelo High School said school came out at 10am to afford them the opportunity to take part in the march. She said she is going to miss Dondashe because he used to sing so beautifully.
