Cops 'won't take nonsense' at ANCYL march

2012-08-30 11:47

Polokwane - Limpopo police are ready for the ANC Youth League protest march in Polokwane on Thursday against the government's intervention in the province.

Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi said police were prepared for any eventuality but expected demonstrators to behave.

"We will not take any nonsense, we are prepared and we don't anticipate any problems," he said.

"[We] would like them to behave, if they misbehave, action will be taken against them."

The league is marching against the national intervention team deployed in the province in December last year to take over the running of five departments placed under administration by the Cabinet.

On Wednesday, the ANCYL expressed its belief that the intervention by the Cabinet was meant to subdue the province's independent thinking towards the African National Congress' elective conference held in Mangaung in December.

The ANC and the league in the province were seen as leading the campaign for Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe to stand against President Jacob Zuma's re-election.

Zuma has become unpopular in some quarters in the province since ANCYL president Julius Malema was charged and expelled from the ruling party.

Police and traffic officials started to gather at the SABC park in Polokwane at 10:00, where demonstrators are expected to gather before they proceed to the government offices where the national intervention team is operating.

Traffic is expected to be interrupted when the march starts.

ANCYL spokesperson Nono Mabunda said the league was expecting 3 000 people at the march to the department of education and the office of the premier.

On August 21, the march was postponed when the ANCYL indicated that it would march to the education department to demand answers on the textbook crisis that saw pupils receive textbooks six months into the school year.

The department is headed by ANC provincial deputy chairperson Dickson Masemola.

- SAPA