Ballmer Tactics 1
Quite a few people are perturbed by the the chair throwing at Mayor Helen Zille during a meeting she attended in Crossroads, an ANC dominated ward. The excuse from ANC councillor for that ward Depoutch Elese that Zille was attacked because she had not followed procedure and informed him of her visit is of course pretty laughable and only serves to make the ANC’s ward councillors look like wannabe lords over their own personal fiefdom. That the meeting was actually convened by SANCO, usually an ANC ally, to discuss crime in Crossroads only makes the ANC look even worse.
However I must say I wasn’t exactly suprised by the violence. Despite South Africe being a relatively peaceful country when it comes to politically motivated violence, it is still present. I’d even go so far as to say that in certain areas in KwaZulu-Natal, due to the tension between the ANC and IFP, I’d say that political violence is more of a norm than an exception. That there would be violence in the Western Cape at some point in the future after the municipal election is almost a certainty.
It is nice to see national government condemn the attack in no uncertain terms seemingly without a reserved word of support for the ANC councillors or a shifting of blame (although the local ANC officials did plenty of that). However I still would like to reiterate my call for all political parties to start hosting joint seminars for their members entitled ‘Politics: No One Has To Die’.
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I agree, I think that it bodes ill for SA when the day comes when the ANC may be asked to relinquish power. The violent incident against Mayor Zille in Crossroads mirrors an incident where Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tzvangerai was nearly pushed through a window by Robert Mugabe’s thugs.