'Insensitive' Solly slated

It was not only the date set for Tshwane mayor Solly Msimanga's state of the city speech that riled the ANC but also the choice of venue - the Tshwane Events Centre, about a kilometre from where struggle hero Solomon Mahlangu was hanged in 1979.

ANC councillors, protesting at the timing of the event, prevented DA mayor Msimanga from speaking by chanting the banned Dubula Ibhunu (Shoot the Boer) struggle song yesterday.

Elsewhere in the city the leadership of the ANC in the Tshwane region accompanied Deputy Minister of Justice and Correctional Services Thabang Makwetla and the Mahlangu family to the gallows at Kgosi Mampuru prison to honour Mahlangu on the anniversary of the day he was executed there.

The group went to Mamelodi West Cemetery to lay wreaths on Mahlangu's grave.

Former African Union Commission chairman Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma was scheduled to speak at a ceremony at the Stanza Bopape Community Hall in Mamelodi East, according to Lesego Makhubela, ANC caucus spokesperson.

"It is not just the date [set for the state of the city speech], the day Mahlangu was hanged, that we believe was insensitive but also the venue, less than a kilometre from where he was hanged. One cannot be insensitive more than that."

Makhubela said the ANC councillors had asked that the event be held on another day but the DA pushed for it to go ahead.

He said Mahlangu and his family were awarded the freedom of the city and that for over two decades April 6 was used by the city to celebrate his life

"The ANC wishes it to be known that this act of provocation aimed at continuing to sow racial conflict and to pour salt on our wounds will serve only to reverse the work that was done towards our reconciliation efforts."

Msimanga's spokesman, Samkelo Mgobozi, said by disrupting the state of the city speech the ANC had undermined the constitution, the will of the people and the rule of law.

The council had resolved, he said, that the state of the city speech be given as scheduled in honour of Solomon Mahlangu and the ideals for which he fought.

"The ANC must remember that a decision of the council is binding [and] members of the ANC responsible for this conduct will be dealt with appropriately pursuant to the rules of the council and the code of conduct," Mgobozi said.

- Additional reporting by Bongani Nkosi