Cape Town — President Cyril Ramaphosa has called for calm following clashes between the African National Congress (ANC) and the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) that left 16 people injured.
Ramaphosa was at the 110th anniversary of the Zulu king, King Dinuzulu when supporters of the ANC and IFP clashed. The clashes started when the IFP accused the ANC’s Siboniso Duma of disrespecting Zulu king, Misuzulu ka Zwelithini and the Zulu nation, The Citizen reported.
In videos making the rounds on social media, Duma can be seen grabbing the microphone from the Zulu prime minister, Thulasizwe Buthelezi. This led to acccusations being thrown around that the IFP attacked the ANC. The IFP said it will rport the ANC Women’s League to the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) for making an inflammatory statement, IOL said.
Ramaphosa responded to the violence and urged all South Africans to stay calm ahead of the upcoming elections.
“Obviously, as the ANC, we abhor violence, we are totally against violence. We want these elections to be run on a non-violence basis where the electorate, people who want to go and vote are able to exercise their right and their choice without being coerced or threatened and without any fear whatsoever.
“There is no place for violence in the democratic South Africa that we have become and we call on all South Africans to be totally against violence and should not participate in any violent activities. We call on leaders of various political parties to call on their members to desist from using violence including articulating violent statements,” Ramaphosa said.
There is no place for violence in a democratic South Africa and we have a joint responsibility to ensure a safe national general election. #VoteANC pic.twitter.com/uru5s6mANb
— Cyril Ramaphosa 🇿🇦 (@CyrilRamaphosa) March 17, 2024
Follow African Insider on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
Picture: X/@MYANC
For more African news, visit Africaninsider.com
Compiled by Matthew Petersen
