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Seth Mazibuko, a 1976 student activist and ANC stalwart, has warned that anger among South Africans is at a boiling point, and he believes that if it were up to the governing ANC, elections would not go ahead this year.
Speaking to City Press from his home in Orlando East, Mazibuko (55) said: “There is a lot to clean up before the elections. If it was not constitutional that the elections have to take place sometime between May and August, it was going to be easy for the governing party to say ‘let us postpone elections to next year or whenever. This is not a good year for elections.’”
Mazibuko was 16 during the Soweto student uprisings, and was later imprisoned on Robben Island.
These days, he puts his time and energy into community work in the township where he was born and bred.
This week, he made headlines when he claimed that two armed ANC ward councillors showed up outside his house.
Mazibuko, in his capacity as a member of the Orlando Task Team, was conducting a meeting with the local structures of the ANC women’s and youth leagues.
“The Orlando Task Team is a community-based organisation made up of people across a number of political organisations. We deal with development issues, and we look at corruption in the administration of Orlando East. The ANC does not have an opposition in the Orlando Task Team,” said Mazibuko.
“Orlando East is the oldest part of Soweto. In fact, we call it the mother city. It was home to the father of Soweto, James Mpanza.”
Mazibuko said that the two ANC leagues had requested the meeting with him, saying that they realised the Orlando Task Team was fighting for community development.
On the night of the meeting, he was notified via SMS that a group of cars containing local ANC councillors was outside his home. He said people outside saw an exchange of firearms. He then called the police, who arrived in five vehicles.
The ANC in the region disputed this version of events, saying Mazibuko and other community members had fabricated the story.
“We received information that some ANC members were having a private meeting with the so-called Orlando Task Team at Mr Mazibuko’s house, [and were] planning to disrupt a scheduled public meeting to introduce ANC local elections candidates,” said the ANC.
“The ANC election monitoring team was deployed to monitor what was happening, and it identified two vehicles belonging to some ANC members at the Mazibuko residence. Upon noticing that they were being watched, the meeting’s participants called the police and the police came in huge numbers and chased our monitoring team away from the scene.”
The ANC said their members had not been armed. Mazibuko himself admitted that he did not see any firearms, but was relying on the testimony of those who were outside.
Mazibuko said that the incidents at his home were informed by a nationwide crisis of infighting in the ANC – particularly around positions in the upcoming elections.
Orlando East remains a stronghold for the ANC. At the local polls in 2011, only half of the registered voters actually cast their vote. Of those who voted, an overwhelming 84% put their trust in the ANC.
In the 2014 elections, the governing party obtained 75% of the votes, while the Economic Freedom Fighters garnered 12%.
Orlando is an ANC heartland, and is where many turning points in the struggle against apartheid occurred, such as the June 1976 student uprising.
It was home to Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu – who both went on to become Nobel peace prize winners.
The famous Regina Mundi church, where activists sought solace and which became a focal point for the liberation movement, is situated in Orlando, as is Orlando Stadium.
It is also, of course, home to the iconic Orlando Pirates football team.
