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The violence and unrest in Tshwane before the municipal election was not just an ANC matter, Parliament heard today.
Acting police commissioner, Lieutenant-General Kgomotso Phahlane, was briefing members of Parliament in the portfolio committee on police on election related incidences reported to SAPS when an ANC MP asked him whether there was a so-called third force behind the violence in Tshwane.
The DA blamed the ANC for the violence at the time.
Phahlane said the violence was not simply triggered after the ANC named Thoko Didiza as its mayoral candidate for Tshwane.
A criminal element was the dominant factor, he said.
“So we cannot just attribute what happened to just that [mayoral nomination].”
Phahlane said violence and land invasions were all happening at the same time.
“So it was really a number of issues that came into the mix and to prove that it wasn’t just an ANC-matter, we still have these issues in Mamelodi. This week we had issues relating to land invasions where houses were illegally occupied, so all of this cannot attributed to one factor.”
He suggested that people could have been opportunistic and were trying to take advantage of the situation.
DA MP Darren Bergman insisted that Phahlane make it clear whether the police suspected other political parties were behind the violence.
Phahlane said that he was not referring to political parties. He also could not say who was behind the criminal activity because the matters were still being investigated.
“So I can’t say conclusively that there was a third force at play,” he said.
Major-General Leon Rabie, head of the police’s strategic management, said 270 hot spots were identified during the election period.
In Gauteng, Atteridgeville, Mamelodi, Hammanskraal and Olievenhoutbosch were identified as conflict areas in the Tshwane area.
Altogether, 353 incidents that could be connected to the ANC’s mayoral candidate were reported, and 278 people were arrested.
The cases included the possession of an illegal firearm, possession of suspected stolen property and looting.
