logo
ActionSA branch launch in eThekwini cut short after shooting incident

ActionSA branch launch in eThekwini cut short after shooting incident

The Herald16-06-2025
ActionSA's launch of a new branch in eThekwini in KwaZulu-Natal was suspended on Sunday after a shooting incident. The incident took place in full view of party president Herman Mashaba and provincial chair Zwakele Mncwango.
Party members scurried for cover as one of the gunmen who arrived in a Toyota Quantum fired shots inside the venue. Some party members managed to disarm the gunman. Mcwango confirmed the incident and said the men stormed the meeting venue and started shooting.
'We managed to disarm the suspects and took them to Sydenham police station,' he said. Mncwango said the branch launch had to be cancelled because members were terrified. He said they want the suspects to reveal who sent them. Mncwango has many enemies in the province for his stance against corruption in the provincial government and eThekwini municipality.
He has spoken out against corruption in the department of health and education in the province and eThekwini municipality officials who are allegedly implicated in fraud and corruption.
In a media statement on Sunday, Mncwango said they were left with the difficult decision to cancel the planned branch launch for Ward 25 in eThekwini after a violent and deeply concerning attack on their activists.
'Several shots were fired during the incident, and fortunately, the perpetrator was successfully disarmed. Unfortunately, one of our activists was physically assaulted and sustained injuries during the altercation. Due to the seriousness of these attacks and in the interest of ensuring the safety of our members and activists, including our president Herman Mashaba, we made the difficult decision to cancel the branch launch,' he said.
Mncwango said this incident serves as a stark reminder of the history of political intolerance in KwaZulu-Natal.
'It is a direct infringement on the rights of South Africans to freely support the political party of their choice without fear of intimidation or violence,' he said.
He said that as they approach the 2026 local government elections, they are calling on all political parties and their members to foster an environment of respect and tolerance. 'It is a shame that in our quest to improve the lives of ordinary South Africans, we have found ourselves under attack for simply engaging with communities,' said Mncwango.
He said they have opened a criminal case at the Sydenham police station. The suspect and his co-accused are expected to appear in court on Tuesday.
'I believe this gunman was sent by someone who is trying to intimidate us. What they are doing is not going to succeed,' he said.
Mncwango said they will follow the case until the end.
KwaZulu-Natal police had not responded to questions sent to them by TimesLIVE. The story will be updated with their comment when received.
TimesLIVE
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Who really benefits when the state refuses to provide documents?
Who really benefits when the state refuses to provide documents?

Mail & Guardian

time21 minutes ago

  • Mail & Guardian

Who really benefits when the state refuses to provide documents?

Ugandan refugees Jackson Ssebuliba and Winston Mukulu with social worker Nigel Branken inside the Pretoria Refugee Reception Office, where many are turned away despite legal protections. Photo: Supplied This morning I am outside the Refugee Reception Office (RRO) in Pretoria with two Ugandan refugees. They have come here twice before and been turned away in violation of the Refugee Convention and South African domestic law. We arrived at 4:25am and we were number five in the queue. It is now just after 5am, and already there are close to 50 people waiting. Vulnerable people, desperate to get documented. The two people I am with fled to South Africa because of persecution they faced on account of their sexual orientation. Because the home affairs department has refused them entry before, they have been arrested, harassed,and labelled 'illegal immigrants'. But whose actions are actually illegal here? Is it the refugees who, despite multiple attempts, have arrived at 4:00 am with a social worker to ensure access? Or is it the government that makes it impossible to get documented legally? When I interviewed Carol Lemekwana, of Lawyers for Human Rights, on my radio programme, she revealed the horrific fact that in the past two years not one newcomer has been granted asylum or given proper refugee documentation. Not one. She leads a clinic that supports refugees trying to get documented. The Scalabrini Centre recently had to go to court to stop the home affairs department from arresting people who arrive here to seek refugee status. This Pretoria office is one of only three still operating in the entire country. The others have been closed despite court orders to reopen them — orders that have simply been ignored. So we must ask: whose interests are served by not documenting people? I want to name four groups who benefit. First, corrupt government officials. Take Phophi Ramathuba, who infamously told a vulnerable Zimbabwean patient recovering from surgery, 'You are killing my health care system.' She said this just five weeks after the Special Investigating Unit recommended prosecutions in her department for R132 million in personal protective equipment fraud, two weeks after the Hawks raided her offices and seized phones and laptops as evidence of widespread corruption, and five days after the auditor general released a report exposing billions in fruitless and wasteful expenditure, R120 million in underspending and 51% of funded posts left vacant. Why? Because it's easier to loot when you have fewer staff to account for spending. The auditor general was clear: maladministration, mismanagement and corruption — not foreigners — are what cripple Limpopo's health system. In fact, Statistics SA data shows negative net migration in Limpopo: foreign nationals declined from 2.9% of the population to 2.7% in the past five years. The numbers seeking care also declined. Politicians benefit by blaming migrants rather than their own corruption. Second, politicians and officials who create patronage jobs in policing. Gauteng's premier has appointed new wardens supposedly to 'create jobs'. But jobs doing what? Policing those the government itself refuses to document, creating fear, extracting bribes. Imagine if those jobs were created where they are really needed — in service delivery, fixing infrastructure, supporting small businesses. But no. Policing vulnerability serves the neoliberal pact between government and big business. Third, business benefits. They rely on a cheap, exploitable, desperate workforce with no legal recourse. And fourth, criminal groups such as Operation Dudula benefit. In my work against xenophobia in Orange Grove, I saw how house hijackings were linked to xenophobic mobilisation. Sandra, one of the ringleaders, hijacked at least six houses, sold the furniture and rented them out room by room — all under the banner of 'helping South Africans.' Police ignored more than 30 cases we laid at the Norwood station. Not one prosecution. I also witnessed brothers running a 'protection racket', charging foreign shop owners monthly bribes. When they openly looted a shop, we confronted them. Even when caught on video. The police let them go. And it's not just refugees who are intentionally left undocumented. Did you know only 89% of South Africans are documented? That means six million citizens lack identity documents or birth certificates, cutting them off from basic services and banking. Then there is the saga of blocked IDs. Since about 2007-10, 2.8 million South Africans had their IDs arbitrarily blocked — often because their surname 'didn't sound South African', or because they travelled to neighbouring countries, or because they came from exile. No due process. Even after a January 2024 court order to unblock them, some 750,000 IDs remain blocked today. I know people affected personally. A South African friend of mine, whose mother was arrested as an activist during apartheid, had his ID blocked simply because his father was Malawian. Decades of being excluded from jobs, study, and banking — all because of state-created statelessness. Then there are the Zimbabwe Exemption Permit (ZEP) holders. For decades, they were here legally. Then, in one arbitrary cabinet decision, they were rendered undocumented. It took the Helen Suzman Foundation going to court to reverse it. These were not people 'flooding in illegally'. They were legal residents suddenly made undocumented by government decree. And all of this against the backdrop of studies showing that the vast majority of migrants enter South Africa legally through border control. The idea of 'floods of illegal immigrants' is a manufactured myth — one that thrives precisely because compliance has been made intentionally difficult and bribery is encouraged. So next time you see Operation Dudula marching and chanting slogans, remember: they are not the truth-tellers. They are the foot soldiers of a system that thrives on corruption, exploitation and scapegoating. We do not have an 'illegal immigrant crisis'. We have an illegal government crisis. A government that refuses to follow its own laws and deliberately creates a vulnerable underclass, only to then point fingers and say, 'You are the problem.' If we want our democracy back, we must start by restoring the rule of law — beginning with the government itself doing its job. Nigel Branken is a social worker, pastor and activist. He leads Neighbours, a civil society organisation building solidarity with marginalised communities with a focus on resisting xenophobia, defending human rights, and promoting systemic change. He has recently joined the South African Communist Party, aligning himself with its vision of justice, equality, and collective liberation.

ActionSA files criminal complaint over failed Boipatong Old Age Home project
ActionSA files criminal complaint over failed Boipatong Old Age Home project

The Star

time2 hours ago

  • The Star

ActionSA files criminal complaint over failed Boipatong Old Age Home project

ActionSA has lodged a criminal complaint with the Boipatong South African Police Service (SAPS) over the collapse of the R28 million Boipatong Old Age Home project. The project, launched by the Emfuleni Local Municipality in 2015, has been plagued by delays, including contractor failures, poor administration, and community unrest. The Star previously revealed that the project came to a standstill nearly a decade later, after the late discovery of a gas pipeline running beneath the site, halting planning and construction. On August 20, ActionSA Gauteng Provincial Chairperson Funzi Ngobeni presented evidence at the Boipatong SAPS pointing to financial misconduct, fraudulent spending, and gross dereliction of duty by both contractors and government officials. 'This project is a textbook case of how corruption and incompetence rob communities of dignity. We will not allow public funds to disappear while our elderly continue to suffer without care or protection.' Ngobeni added that, given the seriousness and the amount involved, Boipatong SAPS has referred the case to the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI), commonly known as the Hawks. In his complaint, Ngobeni alleges that R25 million was paid to contractors despite the site being abandoned, with professional fees exceeding R3 million disbursed without any corresponding service. He claims no funds have been recovered, no disciplinary action has been taken against officials, and that the case may involve violations of the PFMA, MFMA, and anti-corruption laws. He added that ActionSA will urge the Gauteng Premier to use his executive authority to petition the President for a Proclamation under Section 2(1) of the Special Investigating Units and Special Tribunals Act, 74 of 1996. The party also calls on Premier Panyaza Lesufi to publicly release the full audit trail of the project, explain why no action has been taken against the companies and officials involved, and commit to recovering public funds while completing the facility for Boipatong's elderly. Previously, Gauteng MEC Jacob Mamabolo's spokesperson, Theo Nkonki, said the government is taking decisive steps to complete the Boipatong Old Age Home by 2026: 'We have launched a detailed planning process, including updated technical studies, revised project scopes, and active engagement with key stakeholders such as SASOL.' Nkonki added that safety considerations and redesign efforts are ongoing, and that new contracts will include penalties to ensure contractors are held accountable. The Star [email protected]

ActionSA files complaint over R28m wasted on abandoned Boipatong project
ActionSA files complaint over R28m wasted on abandoned Boipatong project

The Herald

time2 hours ago

  • The Herald

ActionSA files complaint over R28m wasted on abandoned Boipatong project

ActionSA has laid a criminal complaint over the abandoned Boipatong Old Age Home project, which has already cost taxpayers R28m but remains incomplete 10 years on. The party's Gauteng chairperson, Funzi Ngobeni, said there is compelling evidence of financial misconduct, fraudulent expenditure and gross dereliction of duty by contractors and government officials. 'This project is a textbook case of how corruption and incompetence rob communities of dignity. We will not allow public funds to disappear while our elderly continue to suffer without care or protection,' he said. Ngobeni said the project was initially implemented by the Emfuleni local municipality but later handed over to the Gauteng department of infrastructure development for completion. 'Yet, years later, no accountability has been taken for the failure to deliver the old age home — despite payments exceeding R28m to contractors and service providers.'

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store