ANCYL to 'vandalise' Cape Town

2010-05-25 14:09

Cape Town - The ANC Youth League has called on the youth to vandalise the City of Cape Town over poor service delivery.

"We are going to destroy everything and make the city ungovernable," ANCYL Dullah Omar region secretary Loyiso Nkohla said on Tuesday.

"We are calling on all youth to do this [vandalise the city], especially those living in informal settlements."

Nkohla 's deputy Chumile Sali said the ANCYL was doing this to expose those parts of the city where the DA had failed to deliver services.

Toilet enclosures destroyed

On Monday, ANCYL members and community leaders led residents in the destruction of toilet enclosures the city council had erected hours earlier. They taunted Cape Town Mayor Dan Plato to arrest them.

"The African people's dignity has been undermined by the DA. It is time to take action," said Sali, denying that the ANCYL was promoting violence.

Regional treasurer Andile Lili said the ANCYL did not intend being violent, but was being forced to by the city.

The ANCYL Dullah Omar branch had written an open letter to Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale asking him to intervene in the toilet debacle.

"Our complaint is based on the reality that African people residing in Makhaza, Khayelitsha, are forced to shit in full view of the public," the ANCYL wrote.

'Gross human rights violations'

"This satanic action by the city council is tantamount to gross human rights violations and undermines the people's right for their dignity to be protected as stipulated in section 10 of the Constitution."

The ANCYL said it lodged a complaint against the city with the South African Human Rights Commission in January, but had not yet received a response.

It would not wait for Sexwale's response to proceed with its plan of action.

The ANCYL said that in 2007 the city built a toilet for each household in the Makhaza area which each household had to enclose itself. However, since 2008, about 50 Makhaza families had been relieving themselves in full view of the public.

The ANCYL said it was unhappy with the corrugated metal sheets the city had used to build enclosures around the toilets and wanted concrete instead.

Plato told the Cape Times on Monday that he had recently met with the ANCYL and community leaders and they had agreed to tell residents that open toilets would be enclosed.

He said the corrugated metal sheets used to enclose them were not inferior to the material people had used to build the homes they were living in and that if people wanted to destroy new structures he would "walk away".

- SAPA