TSHWANE – A group of African National Congress members in Gauteng on Sunday announced a “national shutdown” to cripple Pretoria through demonstrations from Monday in a bid to put pressure on President Jacob  Zuma to quit.

This is despite the Tshwane Metro police saying they did not approve its request to demonstrate.

The group of “concerned ANC members” from different regions in Gauteng, under the #ZumaMustGo campaign slogan, insisted on Sunday they would use all possible means to get Zuma out of the Union Buildings.

“We are being in the forefront because we love our movement. We love our organisation. Even if it means that we are [going to be] arrested, or beaten, or killed – we are ready for it tomorrow [Monday]. And we are not going to leave the Union Buildings, by the way, until he resigns,” leader of the #ZumaMustGo protest Lazarus Maumela told journalists in Pretoria.

READ: Special ANC NEC meeting scheduled for Monday

“That is what we are going to do. We have made arrangements… we are sitting with about 60 buses now, and we know that before the end of the day, today [Sunday], we could be having 100 buses [coming to Pretoria]. We want thousands and thousands of people to come to this march. We are also going to be joined by a Pakistani group.”

Maumela vowed that the aggrieved ANC members would pull “the enemy” Zuma physically from the government offices if need be.

READ: ‘Root out rotten tomatoes in ANC’: Ramaphosa

“We are coming to the Union Buildings tomorrow [Monday], and we are not apologetic about it. We are ready for everything. We have sat down with the police and all the leaders in Tshwane. We will address the people to say, do not give up on the ANC, we just have one enemy. We will root out that enemy. If it means we have to go the office and remove him, we will do that,” said Maumela.

“We cannot be defeated by a group of thugs, tsotsis, people whose intention is to corrupt this organisation. We are not afraid, even if the BLF come, we are ready. If they come with firearms, we will beat them physically.”

Meanwhile, the South African Communist Party distanced itself from the protest.

“We further distance ourselves from the man who claims to hold a position in the SACP who took part in the press conference. The man does not represent the SACP and any of its structures. In fact the man is not known to any structures of the SACP and therefore doesn’t have a mandate to speak on our behalf,” it said in a statement.

The ANC in Gauteng also distanced itself from the march.

“The ANC calls on its members, supporters and society at large not to heed this irresponsible and reckless call by these individuals who have no mandate to speak on behalf of the ANC or any of its members and structures,” the party said in a statement.

– Additional reporting eNCA

African News Agency

ICYMI:

All hell is about to break loose, Zuma’s wife warns

President Jacob Zuma’s wife Tobeka Madiba-Zuma whose husband’s future in the Presidency is uncertain, on Friday finally broke her silence, warning that all hell was about to break loose. 

She posted a happy photo of herself and her husband, seemingly inside a plane, from her Instagram account, firstladytzuma, with the following caption in isiZulu: “My crush, Nxamalala, Msholozi, Maphumephethe, Inkunzi, Emidiwayidwa, Zinyane likaMnyakanya. Kusazoshuba ungalwi nomuntu engalwi nawe #southafrica #biggerthanmattersofthestomach.

“In the post she praises Zuma, calling him by his clan names before warning that all hell is about to break loose.

She also cautions against “picking a fight with someone who is not fighting you”.

Johannesburg – Two Chinese nationals have been arrested for illegally connecting to the city’s electricity services, after being disconnected earlier in the week due to outstanding fees.

Johannesburg executive mayor, Herman Mashaba said the suspects own a business in Fordsburg, which was targeted as part of the City’s #BuyaMthetho campaign, due to an outstanding electrical account of around R500 000. 

Operation #BuyaMthetho (Bring back the law) is a new multi-departmental operation launched on Monday, aimed at enforcing by-laws and bringing the rule of law to the City of Johannesburg. 

“During that operation, power supply to their property was cut off by City Power employees.  It is clear that these businessmen work with officials who supplied them with a new meter and reconnected power supply to their property illegally,” Mashaba said.

Mashaba said he had instructed the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD) to monitor properties which were disconnected as part of Operation #BuyaMthetho, to ensure that services were not illegally reconnected at these properties.  

“If they are reconnected, the owners will be arrested immediately, as was the case with these two suspects,” he said. 

In a separate incident, the City’s Group Forensic and Investigation Service (GFIS) team, working together with the South African Police Service (SAPS), arrested a businessman in Fordsburg for attempting to bribe a City official to install four electricity prepaid meters valued at R8 000.

Cape Town – Two critical questions – including whether suspected underworld kingpin Nafiz Modack may be a registered informant and about his possible links to the Western Cape’s head of crime intelligence – have cropped up in his extortion case.

However, police do not appear to have the answers.

A statement by Lieutenant Colonel Peter Janse Viljoen of the Western Cape Hawks, which was read out during Modack’s bail application in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday and which is dated January 31, 2018, referred to two key and apparently unanswered factors in the matter.

‘Unknown aspects’

Janse Viljoen’s statement said: “It’s unknown if Modack is a registered informant. Informants usually have one police handler.”

Another section of it said detailed phone billing showed that after Modack was arrested in Worcester at the end of November last year, he had immediately called Major General Mzwandile Tiyo.

Tiyo is the head of crime intelligence in the Western Cape.

“At this stage it’s unknown what role [the] Major General played if any, but it’s strange that Modack phoned the General as soon as he is arrested,” Janse Viljoen’s statement said.

Several claims have been made against police officers during Modack’s bail application.

READ: Cops and corruption claims: Police ‘tensions’ emerge in Modack extortion case

Modack is accused of extortion and intimidation alongside Carl Lakay, Ashley Fields, Colin Booysen – suspected Sexy Boys gang boss Jerome Booysen’s brother, and Jacques Cronje.

They face charges relating to the nightclub security industry in that they allegedly took over security operations at clubs and restaurants, forcing owners to pay them.

For a detailed breakdown on what has been happening in the underworld nightclub security takeover, see News24’s showcase Underworld Unmasked

The group was arrested on December 15 and shortly afterward lodged an application to be released on bail. 

On Wednesday, when Tiyo’s name was mentioned during the application, it was not the first time it cropped up in the matter.

In January during the bail application, Charl Kinnear, a police colonel who is investigating fights in Cape Town clubs, testified that there was a recording of Modack in a meeting with Major-General Jeremy Vearey and Russell Christopher, a former State Security Agency official who trained with Vearey in the ANC’s intelligence structures prior to 1994.

Vearey is the head of the Cape Town cluster of police stations. The meeting happened on May 5, 2017.

READ: REVEALED: Court hears identities of ‘high-ranking’ cops allegedly working with underworld figure Modack

“Nafiz Modack states he was dealing with high-ranking police officials and, should there ever be a problem, Tiyo and Mbotho can sort it out,” Kinnear had testified.

The Mbotho he was referring to is Major-General Patrick Mbotho, who was a provincial head of detectives, but who News24 understands recently moved from the position.

READ: Uncertainty about future of detective head who allegedly worked with Modack

Last month during the bail application further allegations were made about police.

Bruce Hendricks, the lawyer for Colin Booysen, claimed that controversial businessman Mark Lifman was in control of police, especially officers who are driving the extortion case against Modack.

Lifman was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly pointing a firearm during an incident in March last year. Modack had lodged a complaint against Lifman with police in January this year.

The bail application is expected to continue on Monday.