Tension at IFP rally
An IFP supporter was allegedly assaulted by police at the party’s Mhlabuyalingana roadshow.
AS political campaigning enters its final stages in the run-up to next week’s general elections, tensions flared up at an IFP rally during the Freedom Day weekend.
An IFP member was allegedly assaulted by police at the party’s Mhlabuyalingana roadshow.
In a press statement, IFP MP Alfred Mpontshane said, ‘While we were walking around the area, members of the South African Police Service (SAPS) provoked IFP supporters, which led to an altercation between the two groups. This ended with police officers assaulting one of our supporters and we have opened a case of assault in Manguzi Police Station”.
Mpontshane went on to say such behaviour from law enforcement officials must be ‘condemned in the strongest of terms’.
Disappointment in SAPS was evident as the IFP MP noted that, instead of police officers protecting the political party’s members’ rights to campaign peacefully, they were the source of violence at the roadshow.
‘Our police are not supposed to be aligned to any political party. Yet this attack on our members makes us question whether they support certain political parties’ campaigns while disrupting ours,” Mpontshane said.
The IFP has, in the past, spoken out against police brutality as communities have lost faith in police protection.
Police officers at Manguzi Police Station could not be reached for comment.
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