ANC MPL protests in coffin outside Eastern Cape premier's office

After spending the weekend sleeping in a coffin in front of Eastern Cape premier Phumulo Masualle’s office in Bhisho, ANC MPL Christian Martin will now take his plight to the party’s provincial headquarters in King William’s Town.

The sleep-in by Martin and Khoisan chiefs Crawford Fraser and Cora Hennings was an attempt to highlight the gang violence in Port Elizabeth’s northern areas.

It follows a protest at the Bethelsdorp police station on Thursday, where they planted 78 crosses – representing the number of people killed in gang violence in the Bay between April 1 and October 30.

At least six more have died since then.

"If these people had slept in front of the premier’s office instead, they would be alive today or they would have died of natural causes," Martin said.

"They would not have been murdered by gangs. The premier’s office is highly guarded and protected, we are very safe here."

The coffin represented the "uncomfortable and awkward" conditions in which the people of the northern areas lived.

The activists also erected crosses outside the Bhisho legislature in a poignant reminder of the number of deaths.

- HeraldLIVE